I. bar ‧ rel 1 /ˈbærəl/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: baril ]
1 . a large curved container with a flat top and bottom, made of wood or metal, and used for storing beer, wine etc:
The wine is aged in oak barrels.
barrel of
barrels of beer
2 . a unit of measurement for oil, equal to 159 litres
barrel of
two million barrels of oil
3 .
the part of a gun that the bullets are fired through
4 . have somebody over a barrel to put someone in a situation in which they are forced to accept or do what you want:
The manager has us over a barrel – either we work on a Saturday or we lose our jobs.
5 . be a barrel of laughs [often in negatives] to be very enjoyable:
Life is not exactly a barrel of laughs at the moment.
⇨ ↑ pork barrel , ⇨ scrape (the bottom of) the barrel at ↑ scrape 1 (5), ⇨ lock, stock, and barrel at ↑ lock 2 (3)
II. barrel 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive] American English informal
to move very fast, especially in an uncontrolled way:
A vehicle barreled out of a shopping center and crashed into the side of my car.