barrel

[ bar-uhl ]

/ ˈbær əl /

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See synonyms for: barrel / barreled / barreling / barrelled on Thesaurus.com

noun

a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides made of staves hooped together, and with flat, parallel ends.

the quantity that such a vessel of some standard size can hold: for most liquids, 31½ U.S. gallons (119 L); for petroleum, 42 U.S. gallons (159 L); for dry materials, 105 U.S. dry quarts (115 L). Abbreviation: bbl

any large quantity: a barrel of fun.

any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form.

Ordnance. the tube of a gun.

Machinery. the chamber of a pump in which the piston works.

a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock.

Horology. the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled.

Ornithology Obsolete. a calamus or quill.

the trunk of a quadruped, especially of a horse, cow, etc.

Nautical. the main portion of a capstan, about which the rope winds, between the drumhead at the top and the pawl rim at the bottom.

a rotating horizontal cylinder in which manufactured objects are coated or polished by tumbling in a suitable substance.

any structure having the form of a barrel vault.

Also called throat. Automotive. a passageway in a carburetor that has the shape of a Venturi tube.

verb (used with object), bar·reled, bar·rel·ing or (especially British) bar·relled, bar·rel·ling.

to put or pack in a barrel or barrels.

to finish (metal parts) by tumbling in a barrel.

Informal. to force to go or proceed at high speed: He barreled his car through the dense traffic.

verb (used without object), bar·reled, bar·rel·ing or (especially British) bar·relled, bar·rel·ling.

Informal. to travel or drive very fast: to barrel along the highway.

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Idioms about barrel

over a barrel, Informal. in a helpless, weak, or awkward position; unable to act: They really had us over a barrel when they foreclosed the mortgage.

Origin of barrel

1250–1300; Middle English barell<Anglo-French baril,Old French barril<Vulgar Latin *barrīculum, equivalent to *barrīc(a), perhaps derivative of Late Latin barrabar¹ + Latin -ulum-ule; compare Medieval Latin (circa 800) barriclus small cask

OTHER WORDS FROM barrel

half-barrel, nounun·bar·reled, adjectiveun·bar·relled, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use barrel in a sentence

Barnum was there, and bought it all, lock, stock, and barrel.
When Science Was the Best Show in America - Issue 93: Forerunners|Lee Alan Dugatkin|November 18, 2020|Nautilus
With his big, barrel chest and narrow, little hips, Archie looks like two dogs grafted together at the midpoint.
More dog tales: We’re learning the quirks of Archie the rescue|John Kelly|November 8, 2020|Washington Post
Most geoscientists, he says, believe that the salt is impermeable, which means there’s no chance for the waste to escape into the surrounding environment even if one of the barrels holding the material were to leak.
Finding homes for the waste that will (probably) outlive humanity|Katie McLean|October 21, 2020|MIT Technology Review
Our adversaries have wised up, and now they’re attacking our elections, which is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Are we better off than we were four years ago?|cleaf2013|October 17, 2020|Fortune

That makes it responsible for three times more carbon emissions than a barrel of “light crude,” which gushes out of the ground in Saudi Arabia.
Global fuel standards are pushing the dirtiest oil out of the market|Michael J. Coren|October 12, 2020|Quartz
He ran like he was barreling down the stairs and he struggled to climb the 15-foot-tall drum riser.
I'm Not Country or Pop. I'm Just Pure Garth Brooks.|David Masciotra|September 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Twenty minutes later, U.S. striker Jozy Altidore was barreling down the left sideline at top speed in pursuit of the ball.
Will Jozy Altidore Be Team USA’s World Cup Savior vs. Belgium?|Emily Shire|July 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was kind of like when you walk over a grate and you can hear the subway barreling in.
New York Journalists Remember the First Moments of 9/11|Abby Haglage|September 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Three armored police vans came barreling down the road firing shotgun pellets out of the turrets normally used to launch teargas.
Egypt’s Government Thugs Beat Me Up at the Rabaa Sit-In|Mike Giglio|August 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The night started with celebrities barreling through the ballroom door, relieved that the E!
My Night at the Golden Globe Awards|Ramin Setoodeh|January 14, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The mail, we read, was kept bright by barreling, but does not appear to have presented much scope for decoration.
Armour in England|J. Starkie Gardner
For packing, salting, and barreling beef, this city gives place to no other in Europe.
Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period|Various
A huge rock came barreling down the river and crashed right into the dam.
FreeChildrenStories.com Collection|Daniel Errico
By this method the apples are sorted both at the picking and barreling time.
Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916|Various
These bold adventurers made use of the land in the New World only for drying, salting and barreling their fish.
The Bounty of the Chesapeake|James Wharton

British Dictionary definitions for barrel

barrel

/ (ˈbærəl) /

noun

a cylindrical container usually bulging outwards in the middle and held together by metal hoops; cask

Also called: barrelful the amount that a barrel can hold

a unit of capacity used in brewing, equal to 36 Imperial gallons

a unit of capacity used in the oil and other industries, normally equal to 42 US gallons or 35 Imperial gallons

a thing or part shaped like a barrel, esp a tubular part of a machine

the tube through which the projectile of a firearm is discharged

horology the cylindrical drum in a watch or clock that is rotated by the mainspring

the trunk of a four-legged animalthe barrel of a horse

the quill of a feather

informal a large measure; a great deal (esp in the phrases barrel of fun, barrel of laughs)

Australian informal the hollow inner side of a wave

over a barrel informal powerless

scrape the barrel informal to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource

verb -rels, -relling or -relled or US -rels, -reling or -reled

(tr) to put into a barrel or barrels

(intr ; foll by along, in, etc) informal (intr) to travel or move very fast

Australian informal to ride on the inside of a wave

Word Origin for barrel

C14: from Old French baril perhaps from barre bar 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with barrel

barrel

see both barrels; bottom of the barrel; cash on the barrelhead; like shooting fish in a barrel; lock, stock, and barrel; more fun than a barrel of monkeys; over a barrel; pork barrel; rotten apple (spoils the barrel).

barrel

Idioms about barrel

Origin of barrel

OTHER WORDS FROM barrel

Words related to barrel

How to use barrel in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for barrel

Word Origin for barrel

Other Idioms and Phrases with barrel