barrel roll

noun

1

: an airplane maneuver in which a complete revolution about the longitudinal axis is made

2

: a usually accidental occurrence in which a vehicle rolls completely over along its longitudinal axis

If the accident is violent enough to cause a couple of barrel rolls, the car will do so, despite the flaps.

—Connie Steele

barrel-roll verb, transitive + intransitive

He once flipped a car at 225 miles per hour and barrel-rolled another at 307 mph.

—Preston Lerner

Examples of barrel roll in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Pilots will be so excited to perform awesome stunts with a simple tap, fly barrel rolls, and do flips from a stationary hover. —Toby Rose, Parents, 24 Oct. 2024

Here’s to another year of being thrown upside down into a barrel roll at nauseating speeds over and over with you!! —Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 13 Sep. 2024

This makes the Pencil sensitive to certain types of movement, like a barrel roll. —Eric Zeman, PCMAG, 15 May 2024

Asti can play the drums, and Bowie can do barrel rolls. —Candi Bolden, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 10 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1