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noun Barrel 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. 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.
Vault n. 1.(Arch.) An arched structure of masonry, forming a ceiling or canopy. "The long-drawn aisle and fretted vault." 2.An arched apartment; especially, a subterranean room, used for storing articles, for a prison, for interment, or the like; a cell; a cellar. "Charnel vaults." "The silent vaults of death." "To banish rats that haunt our vault." 3.The canopy of heaven; the sky. "That heaven's vault should crack." 4.A leap or bound. Specifically: (a)(Man.) The bound or leap of a horse; a curvet. (b)A leap by aid of the hands, or of a pole, springboard, or the like. Note: The l in this word was formerly often suppressed in pronunciation. Barrel vault, Cradle vault, Cylindrical vault, or Wagon vault (Arch.), a kind of vault having two parallel abutments, and the same section or profile at all points. It may be rampant, as over a staircase (see Rampant vault, under Rampant), or curved in plan, as around the apse of a church. Coved vault. (Arch.) See under 1st Cove, v. t. Groined vault (Arch.), a vault having groins, that is, one in which different cylindrical surfaces intersect one another, as distinguished from a barrel, or wagon, vault. Rampant vault. (Arch.) See under Rampant. Ribbed vault (Arch.), a vault differing from others in having solid ribs which bear the weight of the vaulted surface. True Gothic vaults are of this character. Vault light, a partly glazed plate inserted in a pavement or ceiling to admit light to a vault below.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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