barrel
Plural: barrels
Noun
- a tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired
- a cylindrical container that holds liquids
- a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends
- the quantity that a barrel (of any size) will hold
- any of various units of capacity
- "a barrel of beer is 31 gallons and a barrel of oil is 42 gallons"
- A 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 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.
- Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
- The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.
- A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case
- A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
- A venturi (in carburetion).
- A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.
- Any tube.
- The hollow basal part of a feather.
- The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).
- A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
- A waste receptacle.
- The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
- A jar.
- Any 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.
- A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.
Verb
Verb Forms: barreled, barreling, barrels, barrelled, barrelling
- To move very fast in a reckless or uncontrolled way.
- put in barrels
- To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
- To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.
- To 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.
Examples
- a cracker barrel
- He came barrelling around the corner and I almost hit him.
- I saw the opening and had to barrel through with my bingo play.
- the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.
- Throw it into the trash barrel.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternative connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic *𐌱𐌴𐍂𐌹𐌻𐍃 (*bērils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz, *bērilaz (“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril (“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel (“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill (“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla (“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.
Scrabble Score: 8
barrel: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbarrel: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
barrel: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary