Barrel

From open-dictionary.com - the free dictionary.

English

Noun

barrel (plural barrels)

1. 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.
2. 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 31 1/2 gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds; of beer 36 gallons; of ale 32 gallons.

   Quotations

   • 1882: Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31.5 gallons, a rundlet 18.5 gallons. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 205.
   • 1882: 23 Hen. VIII, cap. 4... The barrel of beer is to hold 36 gallons, the kilderkin 18 gallons the firkin 9. But the barrel, kilderkin, and firkin of ale are to contain 32, 16, and 8 gallons. — James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Volume 4, p. 205.

3. 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.
4. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
5. A jar. [Obs.] 1 Kings xvii. 12.
6. (Zoöl.) The hollow basal part of a feather.

External links

• Wikipedia article on barrel.