Meanings
plural barrelhouses
- A rough-and-tumble drinking establishment.
It’s beautiful, but never naïvely so; the pastoral moments were offset by barrelhouse intrusions.
2008 January 14, Ben Ratliff, “Jazz Showcase Fever Propels a Mini Marathon”, in New York TimesSynonyms: juke, juke joint
- entertainmentA loud, percussive type of blues piano suitable for noisy bars or taverns.
A barrelhouse blues was being shouted over the stamping of feet on a wooden floor. Miss Grace, the good-time woman, had her usual Saturday-night customers.
1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 18, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 111
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA rough-and-tumble drinking establishment.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From barrel + house. Originally used to refer specifically to a bar that served whiskey directly from the barrel.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
barrelhouse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barrelhouse
“barrelhouse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barrelhouse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “barrelhouse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/barrelhouse.
Source: barrelhouse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.