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
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
Dana Feldman, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025
The San Francisco-area plant that Valero plans to shut by April 2026 can process 145,000 barrels of oil a day.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2025
D. Graham Burnett, New Yorker, 26 Apr. 2025
Seconds later, the truck races back into view, barreling over Sloan, still crumpled on the ground, and fatally mowing down Carter, who had been standing on the sidewalk.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for barrel
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Noun
As if things weren’t complicated enough, they are forced to work together when a hurricane barrels toward the hospital, which then goes into lockdown.
—Dana Feldman, Forbes.com, 25 Apr. 2025
The San Francisco-area plant that Valero plans to shut by April 2026 can process 145,000 barrels of oil a day.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 25 Apr. 2025
Verb
The juggernaut actually barrelling down the quad is A.I., coming at us with shocking speed.
—D. Graham Burnett, New Yorker, 26 Apr. 2025
Seconds later, the truck races back into view, barreling over Sloan, still crumpled on the ground, and fatally mowing down Carter, who had been standing on the sidewalk.
—Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for barrel
Cite this Entry
“Barrel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrel. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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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