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 (such 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: such 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
e
: the flat, cylindrical metal box that encloses the mainspring of a timepiece
4
: the trunk of a quadruped
barreled or barrelled; barreling or barrelling
: to put or pack in a barrel
: to move at a high speed or without hesitation
Synonyms
Noun
- abundance
- basketful
- boatload
- bucket
- bunch
- bundle
- bushel
- carload
- chunk
- deal
- dozen
- fistful
- gobs
- good deal
- heap
- hundred
- lashings [chiefly British]
- lashins
- loads
- lot
- 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
Verb
- belt
- blast
- blaze
- blow
- bolt
- bomb [slang]
- bowl
- breeze
- bundle
- bustle
- buzz
- cannonball
- careen
- career
- chase
- course
- crack (on)
- dash
- drive
- fly
- hare
- hasten
- hie
- highball
- hotfoot (it)
- hump
- hurl
- hurry
- hurtle
- hustle
- jet
- jump
- motor
- nip
- pelt
- race
- ram
- rip
- rocket
- run
- rush
- rustle
- scoot
- scurry
- scuttle
- shoot
- speed
- step
- tear
- travel
- trot
- whirl
- whisk
- zip
- zoom
Examples of barrel in a Sentence
Noun
Oak barrels are used for aging the wine.
The price of oil is over 30 dollars a barrel.
They drank a whole barrel of beer.
the barrel of a gun
Verb
The truck went barreling down Main Street.
She came running out of her office and went barreling past us down the hall.
Recent Examples on the Web
Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 7 Sep. 2024
At her disposal is a state-of-the-art facility, a beautiful oak barrel cellar, five 8,000-kilogram presses to handle the large harvest, and five additional press halls spread across the Champagne region to enable the grapes to be pressed as quickly as possible.
—Per and Britt Karlsson, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024
Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 6 Sep. 2024
Not even as Louisiana State defenders barreled toward him on third down in the fourth quarter, forcing him to fling a prayer into the corner of the end zone.
—Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for barrel 
Noun
The mezcal was initially aged in American white oak barrels for four to six months, a typical amount of time for a reposado expression.
—Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 7 Sep. 2024
At her disposal is a state-of-the-art facility, a beautiful oak barrel cellar, five 8,000-kilogram presses to handle the large harvest, and five additional press halls spread across the Champagne region to enable the grapes to be pressed as quickly as possible.
—Per and Britt Karlsson, Forbes, 6 Sep. 2024
Verb
The storm barreled through, bringing down severe rain and lighting before the Chiefs faced off against the Baltimore Ravens.
—Charna Flam, Peoplemag, 6 Sep. 2024
Not even as Louisiana State defenders barreled toward him on third down in the fourth quarter, forcing him to fling a prayer into the corner of the end zone.
—Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for barrel
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barrel.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near barrel
Cite this Entry
“Barrel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrel. Accessed 14 Sep. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
barrel
2 of 2 verb
barreled or barrelled; barreling or barrelling
: to travel at a high speed
barreling down the highway
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