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
Will Sammon, The Athletic, 10 Dec. 2024
Producing this amount requires burning approximately 17,000 barrels of oil, which releases nearly 16 million pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.
—Dianne Plummer, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024
Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 8 Dec. 2024
King captures video of trucks barreling past his West St. Catherine Street home with a camera affixed to the top of his home.
—Killian Baarlaer, The Courier-Journal, 2 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for barrel 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
Conversely, a four-seam fastball and/or changeup could help Holmes avoid barrels against lefties.
—Will Sammon, The Athletic, 10 Dec. 2024
Producing this amount requires burning approximately 17,000 barrels of oil, which releases nearly 16 million pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.
—Dianne Plummer, Forbes, 9 Dec. 2024
Verb
His leg appeared to be rolled up with the two defenders barreling down on him.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 8 Dec. 2024
King captures video of trucks barreling past his West St. Catherine Street home with a camera affixed to the top of his home.
—Killian Baarlaer, The Courier-Journal, 2 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for barrel
Dictionary Entries Near barrel
Cite this Entry
“Barrel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrel. Accessed 19 Dec. 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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