barrel

¹bar·rel

noun \ˈber-əl, ˈba-rəl\

Definition of BARREL

1

: a round bulging vessel of greater length than breadth that is usually made of staves bound with hoops and has flat ends of equal diameter

2

a : the amount contained in a barrel; especially : the amount (as 31 gallons of fermented beverage or 42 gallons of petroleum) fixed for a certain commodity used as a unit of measure b : a great quantity

3

: a drum or cylindrical part: as a : the discharging tube of a gun b : the part of a fountain pen or of a pencil containing the ink or lead c : a cylindrical or tapering housing containing the optical components of a photographic-lens system and the iris diaphragm d : the fuel outlet from the carburetor on a gasoline engine

4

: the trunk of a quadruped

— bar·reled \-əld\ adjective

— on the barrel

: asking for or granting no credit

— over a barrel

: at a disadvantage : in an awkward position

Examples of BARREL

1. Oak barrels are used for aging the wine.
2. The price of oil is over 30 dollars a barrel.
3. They drank a whole barrel of beer.
4. the barrel of a gun

Origin of BARREL

Middle English barel, from Anglo-French baril

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to BARREL

Synonyms: abundance, lot, basketful, boatload, bucket, bunch, bundle, bushel, carload, chunk, deal, dozen, fistful, gobs, good deal, heap, hundred, lashings (also lashins) [chiefly British], loads, mass, mess, mountain, much, multiplicity, myriad, oodles, pack, passel, peck, pile, plateful, plenitude, plentitude, plenty, pot, potful, profusion, quantity, raft, reams, scads, sheaf, shipload, sight, slew, spate, stack, store, ton, truckload, volume, wad, wealth, yard

Antonyms: ace, bit, dab, dram, driblet, glimmer, handful, hint, lick, little, mite, mouthful, nip, ounce, peanuts, pinch, pittance, scruple, shade, shadow, smidgen (also smidgeon or smidgin or smidge), speck, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, streak, suspicion, tad, taste, touch, trace

Related Words: epidemic, plague, rash; bonanza, embarrassment, excess, overabundance, overage, overkill, overmuch, oversupply, plethora, redundancy, superabundance, superfluity, surfeit, surplus; deluge, flood, overflow; army, bevy, cram, crowd, crush, drove, flock, herd, horde, host, legion, mob, multitude, press, score, sea, swarm, throng; gazillion, jillion, kazillion, million, thousands, trillion, zillion

Near Antonyms: atom, crumb, dot, fleck, flyspeck, fragment, grain, granule, iota, jot, modicum, molecule, mote, nubbin, particle, ray, scintilla, scrap, shred, tittle, whit; smatter, smattering; dash, drop, morsel, shot; piece, portion, section; absence, dearth, famine, lack, paucity, poverty, scarceness, scarcity, shortage, undersupply, want; deficiency, deficit, inadequacy, insufficiency, meagerness, scantiness, scantness, skimpiness

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Rhymes with BARREL

aril, carol, carrel, parol, parrel