barrel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbæɹ(ə)l/ (UK); /ˈbæɹəl/, /ˈbɛɚəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English barayl, barel, borrowed from Old French baril (“barrel, cask”) (Anglo-French barel),^[2][3][4] with cognates in all the Romance languages, as Italian barile and Spanish barril,^[3] of uncertain or unknown origin.^[2][3][5] MWU traces it to a Gallo-Romance *barrīculus, probably a diminutive of *barrīca, cask, and NODE and SOED to Medieval Latin barriclus, a small cask.^[4][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cylindrical wooden vessel bulging in the middle: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder;^[2] about 1300–05.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The contents of a barrel, especially liquor, is from about 1300,^[8] and a measure of capacity from 1379.^[8] The metal tube of a gun is from the 1640s.^[3] In American political slang, money for a campaign is from 1884.^[8] Over a barrel, helpless, is by 1914, perhaps suggesting corporal punishment,^[3] and the aeronautical barrel roll from 1920.^[3] The verb, to put in barrels, is mid-15th-century, and to move fast is American slang from 1930, perhaps from a rolling barrel.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a cask.^[2][3]
• 1379 – a measure.^[8]
• mid-15th century – to put in barrels.^[3]
• 1640s – a gun barrel.^[3]
• 1914 – over a barrel.^[3]
• 1930 – to move fast.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large cylindrical container that bulges in the middle, traditionally made of wooden staves bound with hoops; a cask.
2. A measure of capacity, as of oil, 42 US gallons.
3. The tube of a gun through which the bullet is fired.
4. A cylindrical part, as of a pen or pump.

Verb

1. (informal) To move very fast.
2. To put in a barrel.

Word family

• barreled

Related words

• barrel organ
• keg
• cask

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press