noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
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"Near-synonym: cask"
"Barrels came in firkins, nine gallons; kilderkins, eighteen gallons; halves, twenty-seven gallons; barrels, thirty-six gallons and hogsheads, fifty-four."
"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."
"the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled."
"You're shooting stars from the barrel of your eyes"
"Moreover, it adds to difficulties in adjusting/servicing lamps located over high scenery, ceilings etc., where the barrel networks cannot be lowered or reached."
"Throw it into the trash barrel."
"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: [...]"
"For quotations using this term, see Citations:barrel."
"He came barrelling around the corner and I almost hit him."
"The GOP accused the Democrats of pork barrel politics."
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.
Common synonyms include: cask, drum, gun barrel, abundance, acres, age.
The GOP accused the Democrats of pork barrel politics.
Pronounced /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/.
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.