Bar·rel n.
 1. A round vessel or cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends or heads; as, a cracker barrel.  Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
 2. The quantity which constitutes a full barrel.  This varies for different articles and also in different places for the same article, being regulated by custom or by law.  A barrel of wine is 31½ gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds.
 3. A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case; as, the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.
 4. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
 5. A jar. [Obs.]
 6. Zool. The hollow basal part of a feather.
 Barrel bulk Com., a measure equal to five cubic feet, used in estimating capacity, as of a vessel for freight.
 Barrel drain Arch., a drain in the form of a cylindrical tube.
 Barrel of a boiler, the cylindrical part of a boiler, containing the flues.
 Barrel of the ear Anat., the tympanum, or tympanic cavity.
 Barrel organ, an instrument for producing music by the action of a revolving cylinder.
 Barrel vault. See under Vault.


 Bulk n.
 1. Magnitude of material substance; dimensions; mass; size; as, an ox or ship of great bulk.
    Against these forces there were prepared near one hundred ships; not so great of bulk indeed, but of a more nimble motion, and more serviceable.   --Bacon.
 2. The main mass or body; the largest or principal portion; the majority; as, the bulk of a debt.
    The bulk of the people must labor, Burke told them, =\“to obtain what by labor can be obtained.”\=   --J. Morley.
 3. Naut. The cargo of a vessel when stowed.
 4. The body. [Obs.]
    My liver leaped within my bulk.   --Turbervile.
 Barrel bulk. See under Barrel.
 To break bulk Naut., to begin to unload or more the cargo.
 In bulk, in a mass; loose; not inclosed in separate packages or divided into separate parts; in such shape that any desired quantity may be taken or sold.
 Laden in bulk, Stowed in bulk, having the cargo loose in the hold or not inclosed in boxes, bales, or casks.
 Sale by bulk, a sale of goods as they are, without weight or measure.
 Syn: -- Size; magnitude; dimension; volume; bigness; largeness; massiveness.