barrels

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of barrel.

   The cellar's far wall was lined with dusty barrels of vintage wine.

   Workers hoisted the heavy barrels onto the cargo ship.

   Note

   A plural that carries every meaning of the singular, from hooped wooden casks to the metal tubes of guns. As a measure it counts quantities rather than containers, and how much a barrel holds varies by local law and custom, so a figure given in barrels needs its context. The same spelling also serves the verb of headlong motion.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of barrel.

   The freight train barrels past the station without slowing.

   He barrels into every meeting full of energy and half-formed ideas.

   Note

   Three verbs share this form, and the construction tells them apart. With an object it means packing something into casks. Without one it usually means rushing, and then it wants a phrase of direction: barrels past, barrels into, barrels down. The third use, also without an object, is technical. A screen image that barrels has sides bulging outward.

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