- a cylindrical wooden container with slightly bulging sides made of staves hooped together, and with flat, parallel ends.
- the quantity that such a vessel of some standard size can hold: for most liquids, 31½ 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
- any large quantity: a barrel of fun.
- any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form.
- the tube of a gun.
- the chamber of a pump in which the piston works.
- a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock.
- the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled.
- a calamus or quill.
- the trunk of a quadruped, especially of a horse, cow, etc.
- the main portion of a capstan, about which the rope winds, between the drumhead at the top and the pawl rim at the bottom.
- a rotating horizontal cylinder in which manufactured objects are coated or polished by tumbling in a suitable substance.
- any structure having the form of a barrel vault.
- a passageway in a carburetor that has the shape of a Venturi tube.
- to put or pack in a barrel or barrels.
- to finish (metal parts) by tumbling in a barrel.
- to force to go or proceed at high speed: He barreled his car through the dense traffic.
- to travel or drive very fast: to barrel along the highway.
- in a helpless, weak, or awkward position; unable to act: They really had us over a barrel when they foreclosed the mortgage.
- a cylindrical container usually bulging outwards in the middle and held together by metal hoops; cask
- the amount that a barrel can hold
- a unit of capacity used in brewing, equal to 36 Imperial gallons
- a unit of capacity used in the oil and other industries, normally equal to 42 US gallons or 35 Imperial gallons
- a thing or part shaped like a barrel, esp a tubular part of a machine
- the tube through which the projectile of a firearm is discharged
- the cylindrical drum in a watch or clock that is rotated by the mainspring
- the trunk of a four-legged animal
- the quill of a feather
- a large measure; a great deal (esp in the phrases barrel of fun, barrel of laughs)
- the hollow inner side of a wave
- powerless
- to be forced to use one's last and weakest resource
- to put into a barrel or barrels
- to travel or move very fast
- to ride on the inside of a wave