Barrel Definition
- Granting, giving, or requesting no credit:
paid cash on the barrel for the car.
- In a very awkward position from which extrication is difficult:
During the negotiations the opposing faction had us over a barrel.
- to have someone completely at one's mercy, esp. financially
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Barrel
- on the barrel
- over a barrel
- have someone over a barrel
Origin of Barrel
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From Middle English barrell, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil (“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre (“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra (“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternate connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic (berils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz (“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-, *bʰrē- (“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril (“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel (“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill (“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla (“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.
From Wiktionary
Middle English barel from Old French baril
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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