Definition of "barrel" in Anglais

noun

1. (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). The word is sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.

   • Near-synonym: cask
   • a cracker barrel

2. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.

3. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case

   • 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. (automotive) A venturi (in carburetion).

6. (television) A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.

7. (archaic) Any tube.

8. (zoology) The hollow basal part of a feather.

9. (music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and resembles a barrel.

10. (surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.

11. (US, specifically New England) A waste receptacle.

    • Throw it into the trash barrel.

12. The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.

13. (obsolete) A jar.

14. (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.

15. (baseball) A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.

    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:barrel.

verb

1. (transitive) To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.

2. (intransitive) To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.

   • He came barrelling around the corner and I almost hit him.

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.