Definition of: barrel

(bar′əl) noun
1. A large, round, wooden vessel, made with staves and hoops, having a flat base and top and slightly bulging sides.
2. As much as a barrel will hold: a varying measure of quantity. The standard U.S. barrel for fruits, vegetables, and other dry commodities contains 7,056 cubic inches. A barrel of petroleum contains 42 U.S. gallons.
3. Something resembling or having the form of a barrel.
4. Ornithol. The quill of a feather.
5. Naut. The rotating drum of a windlass, capstan, etc., around which the rope winds.
6. The cylindrical box containing the mainspring of a watch, around which the chain is wound.
7. In firearms, the- tube through which the projectile is discharged.
8. The piston chamber of a pump.
—v. bar′reled or bar′relled, bar′rel·ing or bar′rel·ling v.t. To put or pack in a barrel.
—v.i. U.S. Slang To move at high speed. [<OF baril; ult. origin unknown]