barrel

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). Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.

“a cracker barrel”

Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)

The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.

A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case

“the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.”

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

televisionA ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.

zoologyThe hollow basal part of a feather.

musicThe part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).

surfingA wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.

USspecifically new englandA waste receptacle.

“Throw it into the trash barrel.”

The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.

biologyAny of the dark-staining regions in the somatosensory cortex of rodents, etc., where somatosensory inputs from the contralateral side of the body come in from the thalamus.

baseballA statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.

A tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired

To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.

To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.

“He came barrelling around the corner and I almost hit him.”

To assume the shape of a barrel; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit barrel distortion, where the sides bulge outwards.