What is "barrel"

Barrel \Bar"rel\ (b[a^]r"r[e^]l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Barreled (-r[e^]ld), or Barrelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Barreling, or Barrelling.] To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.

Barrel \Bar"rel\ (b[a^]r"r[e^]l), n.[OE. barel, F. baril, prob. fr. barre bar. Cf. Barricade.]

1. A round vessel or cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends or heads; as, a cracker barrel. Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.

2. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel. This varies for different articles and also in different places for the same article, being regulated by custom or by law. A barrel of wine is 311/2 gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds.

3. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case; as, the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.

4. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
   --Knight.

5. A jar. [Obs.]
   --1 Kings xvii. 12.

6. (Zo["o]l.) The hollow basal part of a feather.

   Barrel bulk (Com.), a measure equal to five cubic feet, used in estimating capacity, as of a vessel for freight.

   Barrel drain (Arch.), a drain in the form of a cylindrical tube.

   Barrel of a boiler, the cylindrical part of a boiler, containing the flues.

   Barrel of the ear (Anat.), the tympanum, or tympanic cavity.

   Barrel organ, an instrument for producing music by the action of a revolving cylinder.

   Barrel vault. See under Vault.

c.1300, from Old French baril (12c.) "barrel, cask, vat," with cognates in all Romance languages (such as Italian barile, Spanish barril), but origin uncertain; perhaps from Gaulish, perhaps somehow related to bar (n.1). Meaning "metal tube of a gun" is from 1640s. Barrel roll in aeronautics is from 1927.

mid-15c., "to put in barrels," from barrel (n.). Meaning "to move quickly" is 1930, American English slang, perhaps suggestive of a rolling barrel. Related: Barreled; barreling.

n. (context countable English) A round vessel or cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends or heads. Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels. 2 (context intransitive English) To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.

1. n. a tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired [syn: gun barrel]

2. a cylindrical container that holds liquids [syn: cask]

3. a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends [syn: drum]

4. the quantity that a barrel (of any size) will hold [syn: barrelful]

5. any of various units of capacity; "a barrel of beer is 31 gallons and a barrel of oil is 42 gallons" [syn: bbl]

6. [also: barrelling, barrelled]

1. v. put in barrels

2. [also: barrelling, barrelled]

A barrel is a cylindrical container.

Barrel may also refer to:

• Barrel (unit), several units of volume
• BARREL (Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses), a NASA mission
• Barrel (album), a 1970 album by Lee Michaels
• barrel hinge, a simple hinge consisting of a barrel and a pivot
• barrel (horology), a watch component
• barrel distortion in optics
• barrel organ, a musical instrument
• barrel pillory, or Spanish mantle
• barrel processor, a type of Central Processing Unit
• barrel racing, an equestrian sport
• barrel roll, an aerial maneuver
• barrelled space in functional analysis
• gun barrel
• the venturi of a carburetor
• barrel crimp, also known as " F crimp" solderless connections
• another name for Nintendo tumbler puzzle
• Clarinet barrel, a component of a clarinet
• A name used for a tank (an armoured fighting vehicle) in some works of speculative fiction, such as Harry Turtledove's books, and Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun.
• The outside of a low voltage DC connector.

Balloon Array for RBSP Relativistic Electron Losses (BARREL) is a NASA mission operated out of Dartmouth College that works with the Van Allen Probes mission (formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission). The BARREL project has launched 20 balloons from Antarctica during each of two balloon campaigns in January 2013 and January 2014. Unlike the football-field-sized balloons typically launched at the Poles, these are each just 90 feet in diameter.

Barrel is the fourth album by Lee Michaels and was released in 1970. It reached #51 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. Former Paul Revere & the Raiders' guitarist Drake Levin played guitar on the album. The album featured a cover of Moby Grape's "Murder in My Heart (For the Judge)."

The album featured the single "What Now America" which did not chart on the Billboard single's chart.

Since medieval times the term barrel as a unit of measure has had various meanings throughout Europe, ranging from about 100 litres to 1000 litres, or more in special cases. The name was derived in medieval times from the French baril, of unknown origin, but still in use, both in French and as derivations in many other languages such as Italian, Polish and Spanish. In most countries such usage is obsolescent, increasingly superseded by SI units. As a result, the meaning of corresponding words and related concepts (vat, cask, keg etc.) in other languages often refers to a physical container rather than a known measure.

In the international oil market context, however, prices in US$ per barrel are commonly used, and the term is variously translated, often to derivations of the Latin/ Teutonic root fat (for example vat or Fass).

In other commercial connections, barrel sizes such as beer keg volumes also are standardised in many countries.

Used in mechanical watches and clocks, a barrel is a cylindrical metal box closed by a cover, with a ring of gear teeth around it, containing a spiral spring called the mainspring, which provides power to run the timepiece. The barrel turns on an arbor (axle). The spring is hooked to the barrel at its outer end and to the arbor at its inner end. The barrel teeth engage the first pinion of the wheel train of the watch, usually the center wheel. Barrels rotate slowly: for a watch mainspring barrel, the rate is usually one rotation every 8 hours. This construction allows the mainspring to be wound (by turning the arbour) without interrupting the tension of the spring driving the timepiece.