barrel

English Online Dictionary. What means barrel‎? What does barrel mean?

English

Alternative forms

• barrell (obsolete)

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 alternate 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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/, [ˈbæɹəɫ]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹəl/, [ˈbæɹəɫ], /ˈbɛɚəl/, /ˈbɛɹəl/, [ˈbɛɚəɫ]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹəɫ/
• Hyphenation: bar‧rel
• Rhymes: -æɹəl

Noun

barrel (plural barrels)

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). Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
   2. Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)

      Hypernym: cask

      Coordinate terms: hogshead, pipe, puncheon, rundlet, tertian, tierce, tun
4. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.
5. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case

6. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
7. (television) A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.
8. (archaic) A tube.
9. (zoology) The hollow basal part of a feather.
11. (music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).
12. (surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
13. (US, specifically New England) A waste receptacle.

15. The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
16. (obsolete) A jar.
17. (biology) 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.
18. (baseball) A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:barrel.

Synonyms

• (cylindrical container, or cask of a certain size): bbl (abbreviation)

Meronyms

• head (barrelhead)
• hoop
• stave (e.g., pipestave)

Coordinate terms

• (round vessel): keg, vat

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

barrel (third-person singular simple present barrels, present participle barrelling or barreling, simple past and past participle barrelled or barreled)

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.

   Coordinate term: pincushion

Translations

See also

• cooper

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ʁɛl/

Noun

barrel m (plural barrels)

1. Alternative form of baril