kegs

Meanings

1. 1nounplural

   Small, strong barrels or metal containers used to store and serve beer or other drinks.

   Grammar: Plural of keg: the pub ordered ten kegs.

   Patterns

   • kegs of beer
   • kegs of something

   The pub delivers five kegs of beer every Friday.

   Workers rolled the kegs into the cellar.

   The festival used hundreds of kegs over the weekend.

2. 2nounpluralold-fashioned

   Small barrels used long ago for storing nails, gunpowder or salted fish.

   Grammar: Usually appears in historical contexts.

   Patterns

   • kegs of gunpowder

   The pirates hid kegs of gunpowder below deck.

   Old kegs of nails were stacked behind the hardware store.

   The ship carried kegs of salted herring.

Word forms

Common combinations

kegs of beer

They ordered three kegs of beer for the wedding.

empty kegs

The empty kegs were stacked behind the bar.

roll the kegs

The brewers rolled the kegs onto the truck.

stack the kegs

Please stack the kegs in the corner.

powder kegs

Old powder kegs were used to store gunpowder.

Synonyms and how they differ

barrels

Barrels are usually bigger and often made of wood, whereas kegs are smaller and often metal.

casks

Casks is a traditional word for wooden containers for wine or beer and sounds older than kegs.

drums

Drums are large cylinders for oil or chemicals, not drinks.

vats

Vats are large open tanks for liquid, much bigger than kegs.

Word family

keg noun

one small barrel

kegger noun

a party with a keg of beer

powder keg noun

a situation likely to explode

Commonly confused: kegs or kegs?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “kegs”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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