Etymologically
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barrel

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 13:11. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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