barrel

plural barrels · alternative obsolete barrell

1. countableA round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (heads). The word is sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.

   a cracker barrel

   2 more examples

   Near-synonym: cask

   The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).

   2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847

   Synonyms: bbl, cask

   1. countableSuch a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)

      Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four.

      1987, Keith Dunstan, The Amber Nectar, Ringwood: Vicking O'Neil, page 81

      Synonyms: bbl, cask, bbl, bbl

2. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.

   23 Hen. VIII, cap. 4... The barrel of beer is to hold 36 gallons, the kilderkin 18 gallons the firkin 9. But the barrel, kilderkin, and firkin of ale are to contain 32, 16, and 8 gallons.

   1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 205

   1 more example

   Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons.

   1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 205

3. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case

   the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.

4. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.

   You're shooting stars from the barrel of your eyes

   2010, “Beauty School”, in Chino Moreno (lyrics), Diamond Eyes, performed by Deftones

5. automotiveA venturi (in carburetion).

   Synonyms: bbl, v, V

6. broadcastingA ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.

   Moreover, it adds to difficulties in adjusting/servicing lamps located over high scenery, ceilings etc., where the barrel networks cannot be lowered or reached.

   2013, Gerald Millerson, Lighting for TV and Film, page 325

   1 more example

   The barrel, which is usually from 2.0 m to 2.5 m long, and capable of lifting loads up to 120 kg, is suspended from the main housing which contains the motor gearbox unit, etc.

   2013, Brian Fitt, Joe Thornley, Lighting Technology, page 118

7. archaicAny tube.
8. biologyThe hollow basal part of a feather.
9. entertainmentThe part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and resembles a barrel.
10. hobbiesA wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
11. New EnglandUSspecificallyA waste receptacle.

    Throw it into the trash barrel.

12. The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
13. obsoleteA jar.

    And ſhe ſaid, As the Lord thy God liueth, I haue not a cake, but an handfull of meale in a barrell, and a little oyle in a cruſe: [...]

    New International Version translation: “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. …

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 17:12, column 2

14. biologyAny of the dark-staining regions in the somatosensory cortex of rodents, etc., where somatosensory inputs from the contralateral side of the body come in from the thalamus.
15. ball gamesA statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.

    For quotations using this term, see Citations:barrel.

present singular third person barrels · US participle present barreling · UK participle present barrelling · US participle past barreled · US past barreled · UK participle past barrelled · UK past barrelled · alternative obsolete barrell

1. transitiveTo put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
2. intransitiveTo move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.

   He came barrelling around the corner and I almost hit him.

   2 more examples

   Snow shattered and spilled down the slope. Within seconds, the avalanche was the size of more than a thousand cars barreling down the mountain and weighed millions of pounds.

   2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in New York Times

   Days before Trump’s inauguration, his envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, barrelled into Israel with a demand to meet Netanyahu on Shabbat in order to strongarm him into negotiating a ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza.

   2025 June 22, Andrew Roth, “What a difference a week makes: Trump falls into the Netanyahu trap”, in The Guardian

3. intransitiveTo assume the shape of a barrel; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit barrel distortion, where the sides bulge outwards.
4. slangcard gamesTo bet consecutively on multiple streets.