Barrel

Barrel

A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, usually alcoholic beverages; a small barrel or cask is known as a keg.

Barrel (unit)

A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts: there are dry barrels; fluid barrels, such as the British beer barrel and American beer barrel; oil barrels, etc. For historical reasons, the volumes of some barrel units are roughly double the volumes of others; volumes in common use range approximately from 100 to 200 litres. In many connections, the term drum is used almost interchangeably with barrel.

barrel

Noun

1. A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (heads). The word is sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
2. Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)

Verb

1. To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
2. To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.