barrel
/ˈbæɹəl/
Frequency: 4.17 in modern English
Meaning
noun
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.
Countable
noun
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.
Countable
noun
The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.
noun
A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
noun
A venturi (in carburetion).
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: cask"
- "a cracker barrel"
- "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)."
- "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."
- "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."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbæɹəl/
- British English: /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/