*barre*

n.[ OE. barel, F. baril, prob. fr. barre bar. Cf. Barricade. ] 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. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

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 311/2 gallons; a barrel of flour is 196 pounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A jar. [ Obs. ] 1 Kings xvii. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Zool.) The hollow basal part of a feather. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Barreled or Barrelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Barreling, or Barrelling. ] To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. barrel cacti /plu>. any of several large cacti native to the southwestern U. S. and Mexico, having a short cylindrical form with deep vertical ribs and bearing sharp spines. They are classed in the genera Ferocactus and Echinocactus. [ PJC ]

n. A blackish fish (Hyperglyphe perciformis) of New England waters.
Syn. -- black rudderfish. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The quantity that a barrel (of any size) will hold.
Syn. -- barrel. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A cheap drinking and dancing establishment.
Syn. -- honky-tonk. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } a. 1. Having a barrel; -- used in composition; as, a double-barreled gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. put in or stored in a barrel; ; as, barreled beer; -- opposite of unbarreled. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. tapered toward both ends; -- of an arrow. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ or }, a. Having two barrels; -- applied to a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Metal.) A process of extracting gold or silver by treating the ore in a revolving barrel, or drum, with mercury, chlorine, cyanide solution, or other reagent. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ OE. barein, OF. brehaing, fem. brehaigne, baraigne, F. bréhaigne; of uncertain origin; cf. Arm. brékhañ, markhañ, sterile; LL. brana a sterile mare, principally in Aquitanian and Spanish documents; Bisc. barau, baru, fasting. ] 1. Incapable of producing offspring; producing no young; sterile; -- said of women and female animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

She was barren of children. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; sterile. “Barren mountain tracts.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Unproductive; fruitless; unprofitable; empty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brilliant but barren reveries. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Mentally dull; stupid. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Barren flower, a flower which has only stamens without a pistil, or which has neither stamens nor pistils. --
Barren Grounds (Geog.), a vast tract in British America northward of the forest regions. --
Barren Ground bear (Zool.), a peculiar bear, inhabiting the Barren Grounds, now believed to be a variety of the brown bear of Europe. --
Barren Ground caribou (Zool.), a small reindeer (Rangifer Grœnlandicus) peculiar to the Barren Grounds and Greenland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A tract of barren land. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. Elevated lands or plains on which grow small trees, but not timber; as, pine barrens; oak barrens. They are not necessarily sterile, and are often fertile. [ Amer. ] J. Pickering. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Unfruitfully; unproductively. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition of being barren; sterility; unproductiveness. [ 1913 Webster ]

A total barrenness of invention. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) An herbaceous plant of the Barberry family (Epimedium alpinum), having leaves that are bitter and said to be sudorific. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. barrette, LL. barretum a cap. See Berretta, and cf. Biretta. ] A kind of cap formerly worn by soldiers; -- called also barret cap. Also, the flat cap worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. bareter to exchange. Cf. Barter. ] 1. (Electronics) a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for changes (such as those arising from temperature fluctuations); a thermal cymoscope. Syn. -- ballast resistor. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + WordNet 1.5 ]

☞ The original form consisted of an extremely fine platinum wire loop attached to terminals and inclosed in a small glass or silver bulb. It operates by increased resistance when subjected to the influence of an electric current. In a later variety, called the
liquid barretter, wire is replace by a column of liquid in a very fine capillary tube. A recent version has a resistor composed of an iron wire in a glass bulb containing hydrogen, with the temperature variation of resistance such that the current passing through it remains constant over a wide range of applied voltages. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + PJC ]

a. Firmly barred or closed. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. characteristic of country life; as, cracker-barrel philosophy.
Syn. -- folksy, homespun. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Secured by, or furnished with, crossbars. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Made or patterned in lines crossing each other; as, crossbarred muslin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Excessively barren. [ 1913 Webster ]