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, 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

any large quantity

a barrel of fun.

any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form.

Ordnance . the tube of a gun.

Machinery . the chamber of a pump in which the piston works.

a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock.

Horology . the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled.

Ornithology Obsolete . a calamus or quill.

the trunk of a quadruped, esp. of a horse, cow, etc.

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.

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.

Also called throat. Automotive . 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.

Informal . to force to go or proceed at high speed

He barreled his car through the dense traffic.

Informal . to travel or drive very fast

to barrel along the highway.

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.