A Quick and Simple Dictionary

barrel

1. Noun.  (countable) 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.
2. Noun.  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 31 1/2 gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds; of beer 31 gallons; of ale 32 gallons; of crude oil 42 gallons.
3. Noun.  A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case;.
4. Noun.  A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
5. Noun.  (obsolete) A jar. 1 Kings xvii. 12.
6. Noun.  (archaic) A tube.
7. Noun.  (zoology) The hollow basal part of a feather.
8. Noun.  (music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).
9. Noun.  (context, surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
10. Noun.  (US, specifically) A waste receptacle.
11. Noun.  The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
12. Verb.  To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.