<p><strong>Noun:</strong></p><ul><li>a large cask of varying capacity, but usually 80 gallons (304 liters)</li><li>the volume of such a cask, used as a measure</li><li>any large quantity: a barrel of fun</li><li>any container, case, or part similar to a wooden barrel in form</li><li>the tube of a gun</li><li>the chamber of a pump in which the piston works</li><li>a drum turning on a shaft, as in a weight-driven clock</li><li>the cylindrical case in a watch or clock within which the mainspring is coiled</li><li>a calamus or quill (obsolete)</li><li>the trunk of a quadruped, especially of a horse, cow, etc.</li><li>the main portion of a capstan, about which the rope winds, between the drumhead at the top and the pawl rim at the bottom</li><li>a rotating horizontal cylinder in which manufactured objects are coated or polished by tumbling in a suitable substance</li><li>any structure having the form of a barrel vault</li><li>a passageway in a carburetor that has the shape of a Venturi tube</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used with object):</strong></p><ul><li>to put or pack in a barrel or barrels</li><li>to finish (metal parts) by tumbling in a barrel</li><li>to force to go or proceed at high speed: He barreled his car through the dense traffic</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used without object):</strong></p><ul><li>to travel or drive very fast: to barrel along the highway</li></ul>