Barrel

1. (n) (countable) 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. (n) The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom. 3. (n) Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.) 4. (n) A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged. 5. (n) A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case 6. (v) (transitive) To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels. 7. (v) (intransitive) To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner. 8. (n) (surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment. 9. (n) (music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and resembles a barrel. 10. (n) (automotive) A venturi (in carburetion). 11. (n) (US, specifically New England) A waste receptacle. 12. (n) The ribs and belly of a horse or pony. 13. (n) (biology) Any 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. 14. (n) (baseball) A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play. 15. (v) (intransitive) 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. 16. (n) (archaic) Any tube. 17. (n) (obsolete) A jar. 18. (n) (television) A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended. 19. (n) (zoology) The hollow basal part of a feather.