barrel

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable) 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.
2. (countable) 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.
3. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.
4. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case
5. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
6. A venturi (in carburetion).
7. A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.
8. (archaic) Any tube.
9. The hollow basal part of a feather.
10. The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and resembles a barrel.
11. A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
12. (New-England, US, specifically) A waste receptacle.
13. The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
14. (obsolete) A jar.
15. 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.
16. A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.

Verb

1. (transitive) To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
2. (intransitive) To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.
3. (intransitive) 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.

Synonyms

cask

drum

🥁

pipe

tube

keg

tub

cylinder

bbl

channel

tank

barrelful

elongated

vat

bucket

🪣

gun barrel

pail

barrels

chamber

butt

muzzle

bin

canon

bike

🚲

cade

bevy

busyness

business

cartload

bed

🛏️

barreling

band

bury

company

bunch

bulk

clutter

building

battery

🔋

cluster

coalition

colony

comfort

cloud

☁️

coop

corps

covey

clamour

drift

drove

cistern

Translations

tonneau

barile

barril

barril

baril

fût

botte

barrique

Fass

canon

vat

Faß

ton

tonel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbæɹ(ə)l/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: barel

Cognate with Old French: barre

Cognate with Old High German: biril

Cognate with Luxembourgish: Bärel

Cognate with Old Norse: berill

Cognate with Old English: byrla

In summary

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.