[bar-uh
l] 
noun, verb, -reled, -rel⋅ing or (especially British) -relled, -rel⋅ling.| 1. | a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides made of staves hooped together, and with flat, parallel ends. |
| 2. | the quantity that such a vessel of some standard size can hold: for most liquids, 31 1/2 U.S. gallons (119 L); for petroleum, 42 U.S. gallons (159 L); for dry materials, 105 U.S. dry quarts (115 L). Abbreviation: bbl |
| 3. | any large quantity: a barrel of fun. |
| 4. | any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form. |
| 5. | Ordnance. the tube of a gun. |
| 6. | Machinery. the chamber of a pump in which the piston works. |
| 7. | a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock. |
| 8. | Horology. the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled. |
| 9. | Ornithology Obsolete. a calamus or quill. |
| 10. | the trunk of a quadruped, esp. of a horse, cow, etc. |
| 11. | Nautical. the main portion of a capstan, about which the rope winds, between the drumhead at the top and the pawl rim at the bottom. |
| 12. | a rotating horizontal cylinder in which manufactured objects are coated or polished by tumbling in a suitable substance. |
| 13. | any structure having the form of a barrel vault. |
| 14. | Also called throat. Automotive. a passageway in a carburetor that has the shape of a Venturi tube. |
| 15. | to put or pack in a barrel or barrels. |
| 16. | to finish (metal parts) by tumbling in a barrel. |
| 17. | Informal. to force to go or proceed at high speed: He barreled his car through the dense traffic. |
| 18. | Informal. to travel or drive very fast: to barrel along the highway. |
| 19. | over a barrel, Informal. in a helpless, weak, or awkward position; unable to act: They really had us over a barrel when they foreclosed the mortgage. |
barrel
|