barrel

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  The Jamestown cooper was a busy craftsman. Many barrels, hogsheads, and casks were needed in the colony, and large quantities of barrel staves were made for shipping to England. (Painting by Sidney E. King.)
• WordNet 3.6
  • v barrel put in barrels
  • n barrel a cylindrical container that holds liquids
  • n barrel a tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired
  • n barrel any of various units of capacity "a barrel of beer is 31 gallons and a barrel of oil is 42 gallons"
  • n barrel the quantity that a barrel (of any size) will hold
  • n barrel a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends
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Additional illustrations & photos:

Early musket barrel and gun parts excavated at Jamestown

The elephant carries a heavy barrel

A double barrelled hammerless shot-gun

• Interesting fact: Candy made from pieces of barrel cactus was outlawed in the U.S. in 1952 to protect the species.
• • Barrel A jar.
  • Barrel A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
  • Barrel A round vessel or cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends or heads; as, a cracker barrel . Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
  • Barrel A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case; as, the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.
  • Barrel (Zoöl) The hollow basal part of a feather.
  • Barrel The quantity which constitutes a full barrel. This varies for different articles and also in different places for the same article, being regulated by custom or by law. A barrel of wine is 311/2 gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds.
  • v. t Barrel băr"rĕl To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
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• Interesting fact: In 1916, Jones Wister of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania invented a rifle for shooting around corners. It had a curved barrel and periscopic sights.
• • n barrel A vessel or cask of a cylindrical form, generally bulging in the middle, usually made of wooden staves bound together with hoops, and having flat parallel heads.
  • n barrel As a measure of capacity, the quantity of anything, liquid or solid, which a barrel should contain. In English metrology there were four principal kinds of barrels: the wine-barrel of 31½ wine gallons; the London ale-barrel of 32 beer gallons; the country ale- and beer-barrel of 34 beer gallons; and the London beer-barrel of 36 beer gallons. The wine-barrel was legalized in the reign of Richard III., the others under Henry VIII. Under George III. the barrel of ale or beer for town and country was made 36 gallons. Oil, spirits, tar, and pork were measured by the wine-barrel; vinegar, by the barrel of 34 gallons. A barrel of eels or herrings contained 30 gallons by a statute of Henry VI., but by another of Edward IV. this was made 42 gallons. Salmon and spruce beer were also measured by barrels of 42 gallons. A barrel of beef, wet codfish, or honey contained 32 wine gallons; but honey was sometimes sold by barrels of 42 gallons of 12 pounds each. By a statute of George III., a barrel of fish was made 38 wine gallons; but a barrel of salt pilchards or mackerel measured 50 gallons. The barrel of apples, coal, or nuts contained 3 Winchester bushels, each of 8 gallons, dry measure. The barrel of anchovies contained 16 pounds; of gunpowder, 100 pounds; of raisins, 1 hundredweight; of candles, 120 pounds; of barilla, potash, or butter, 2 hundredweight (but only 106 pounds of Essex butter, and 156 of Sussex); the barrel of soap, 256 pounds. A barrel of plates, by a statute of Charles II., contained 300 pounds. There were besides a great variety of other barrels in Scotland and Ireland. In England the barrel is no longer a legal measure. In the United States the barrel in liquid measure is commonly 31½ gallons, and for solid substances it is generally a unit of weight, a barrel of flour, for example, being 196 pounds, and a barrel of beef or pork 200 pounds. In Maine a barrel of fish is by law 200 pounds. In Louisiana a barrel in dry measure is 3¼ bushels. The bushels vary in different States. On the continent of Europe, previous to the introduction of the metric system, there were many barrels. In each state of Italy the barile for wine was a little smaller than that for oil; they were about 30 to 60 liters. The barril of Normandy was about 60 Paris pintes. The baral of Montpellier was 25⅜ liters; the barrallon of Barcelona, liters; the baril of Riga, 137¾ liters. The barrique was commonly larger than the baril. The abbreviation is bbl., pl. bbls.
  • n barrel The contents of a barrel: sometimes, like bottle, used to signify intoxicating drink.
  • n barrel The money (especially when the sum is large) supplied by a candidate in a political campaign, for campaign expenses, but especially for corrupt purposes: hence, a barrel campaign is one in which money is lavishly employed to bribe voters: in this sense often written and pronounced bar'l (bärl), in humorous imitation of vulgar speech.
  • n barrel Anything resembling a barrel; a drum or cylinder. In particular— The drum or roller in a crane, about which the rope or chain winds.
  • barrel To put or pack in a barrel or barrels: as, to barrel beef, pork, or fish.
  • n barrel In mining, a vessel by which water is lifted by engine or windlass from a sinking-shaft.
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• Interesting fact: Henry Waterman, of New York, invented the elevator in 1850. He intended it to transport barrels of flour.
• • n Barrel bar′el a cylindrical wooden vessel made of curved staves bound with hoops: the quantity which such a vessel contains (36 imperial gallons of ale and beer): a certain weight or quantity of other goods usually sold in casks called barrels: anything long and hollow, as the barrel of a gun, or cylindrical and barrel-shaped
  • v.t Barrel to put in a barrel
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• J. P. Donleavy

  

  “When I die I want to decompose in a barrel of porter and have it served in all the pubs in Dublin.”
• Abraham Lincoln

  

  “Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.”
• Mao Zedong

  

  “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
• William Gilmore Simms

  

  “The proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly exploded in the air.”
• Mao Zedong

  

  “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

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