Barrels

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Containers that are typically large and cylindrical used for storing liquids or other substances ; units used to measure quantities of liquids, especially oil or beer
2. Large round vessels often made from wood or metal for holding liquids ; standard measurements commonly applied in the trade and storage of fluids
3. Cylindrical receptacles used to store and transport materials, mostly liquids ; volumetric units used to quantify liquids such as petroleum or alcoholic beverages

Etymology: The word "barrels" is simply the plural of "barrel," so its story is really the story of the container itself. The English noun came into Middle English from Anglo-Norman "baril" and Old French "baril" or "bareil," and its precise origin is uncertain. One proposed link runs to a Germanic root, possibly a Frankish or Gothic form meaning "container for transport," which goes back to a Proto-Germanic word for a barrel or jug. That ancestor is tied to the Indo-European root for carrying, so a barrel was, at heart, a thing for hauling. The sense of "barrel" as a unit of measure for oil or beer grew out of the container meaning, since quantities were counted by how many barrels a load filled. The Germanic relatives are instructive: Old High German "biril" meant a jug or large pot, and Old Norse "berill" meant a barrel for liquids, showing how closely the idea of a vessel for liquid was bound to the name from the start.

Synonyms: casks, drums, kegs, tuns, vats