Meaning & use

barrel

noun·Everyday

A large, round wooden or metal container with curved sides, used for storing liquids or goods.

See it in a sentence

The winery aged its red wine in oak barrels for nearly two years.

Workers rolled the heavy barrel of oil across the dock toward the ship.

A note on using this word

Barrel is also a standard unit for measuring crude oil, and it names the long metal tube of a gun.

Words with a similar meaning

caskdrum

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Another way to use it

2. noun

A unit of volume used especially for measuring crude oil, equal to 42 U.S. gallons.

The price of oil rose sharply to over ninety dollars a barrel.

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