Barrel vs. Bucket — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Maham Liaqat — Updated on April 2, 2024
Barrels are large cylindrical containers typically used for storing or transporting liquids, while buckets are smaller, portable containers with a handle, used for carrying liquids or solids.
Difference Between Barrel and Bucket
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Barrels, traditionally made of wooden staves and metal hoops, are designed for storing and transporting large volumes of liquids like wine, oil, or beer. They have a capacity ranging from about 75 to 200 liters. Buckets, on the other hand, are usually made from plastic or metal and are much smaller, with a typical capacity of 10 to 20 liters. They are designed for carrying liquids and solids and often come with a handle for easy portability.
The shape of a barrel, wider in the middle and narrower at the ends, is engineered to strengthen its structure and facilitate rolling and handling. This bulging design is not found in buckets, which are typically straight-sided and come with a handle at the top to be lifted directly. While barrels are more suited for storage and transport over longer distances, buckets are ideal for everyday use, including cleaning, gardening, and small-scale carrying tasks.
Barrels have historically been used for the aging of spirits and wines, leveraging the wood’s characteristics to enhance the flavor. Buckets, however, are used for a wide variety of tasks around the home and in industries, serving as a versatile tool for holding or carrying materials, without the process of aging or flavoring.
In terms of sealing, barrels are often sealed with a bung or spigot to access the contents without opening the entire container. This is crucial for maintaining the quality of the contents over time, especially for alcoholic beverages. Buckets typically have a wide open top, which may be covered with a lid, but are not designed to seal as tightly as barrels, making them less suitable for long-term storage of liquids.
Despite their differences, both barrels and buckets play important roles in storage and transportation. Barrels are essential in industries like winemaking and oil storage, where large quantities of liquid need to be stored and aged. Buckets, with their portability and versatility, are indispensable tools in households and various industries for carrying and holding a wide range of materials.
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Comparison Chart
Material
Traditionally wood, now also in plastic and metal.
Commonly plastic or metal.
Capacity
Ranges from 75 to 200 liters.
Typically 10 to 20 liters.
Shape
Cylindrical with a bulge in the middle.
Usually straight-sided with a flat bottom.
Use
Storing and transporting liquids, aging of wine and spirits.
Carrying liquids and solids, general-purpose tasks.
Portability
Less portable, designed for storage and transport.
Highly portable, equipped with a handle for easy carrying.
Seal
Sealed with a bung or spigot for liquid access.
Often open-topped, may come with a removable lid.
Historical Use
Aging and transporting wine, beer, and spirits.
Versatile usage across household and industrial tasks.
Compare with Definitions
Barrel
Utilized in various industries for bulk storage.
Oil barrels are a standard measure in the petroleum industry.
Bucket
Essential for daily household tasks.
They used a bucket to collect rainwater for the plants.
Barrel
A large cylindrical container for storing liquids.
The winery stores its finest wine in oak barrels.
Bucket
A portable container with a handle for carrying liquids and solids.
She carried water from the well in a metal bucket.
Barrel
Often made of wooden staves and metal hoops.
Traditional beer barrels are crafted from wood and bound with metal.
Bucket
Versatile tool used in cleaning and gardening.
He filled the bucket with soapy water to wash the car.
Barrel
Used for aging spirits to enhance flavor.
Whiskey is aged in barrels to acquire its distinct taste.
Bucket
Commonly made from plastic or metal.
The gardener used a plastic bucket to mix fertilizer.
Barrel
Can be sealed with a bung for access.
The brewer opened the barrel’s bung to check the beer’s fermentation process.
Bucket
Can be covered with a lid but not sealed tightly.
The bucket of paint was covered with a lid to prevent drying.
Barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wood or metal hoops.
Bucket
A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the bail.A bucket is usually an open-top container. In contrast, a pail can have a top or lid and is a shipping container.
Barrel
A cylindrical container bulging out in the middle, traditionally made of wooden staves with metal hoops round them
The wine is then matured in old barrels
Bucket
A cylindrical vessel used for holding or carrying liquids or solids; a pail.
Barrel
A tube forming part of an object such as a gun or a pen
A gun barrel
Bucket
The amount that a bucket can hold
One bucket of paint will be enough for the ceiling.
Barrel
The belly and loins of a four-legged animal such as a horse
A Welsh mountain pony with a barrel like a butt of wine
Bucket
A unit of dry measure in the US Customary System equal to 2 pecks (17.6 liters).
Barrel
Drive or move in a way that is so fast as to almost be out of control
We barrelled across the Everglades
Bucket
A receptacle on various machines, such as the scoop of a power shovel or the compartments on a water wheel, used to gather and convey material.
Barrel
Put into a barrel or barrels
When the young spirit is barrelled, it absorbs some of this flavour
Bucket
(Basketball) A basket.
Barrel
A large cylindrical container, usually made of staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom of equal diameter.
Bucket
To hold, carry, or put in a bucket
Bucket up water from a well.
Barrel
The quantity that a barrel with a given or standard capacity will hold.
Bucket
To ride (a horse) long and hard.
Barrel
Abbr. bar. or bbl. or bl. Any of various units of volume or capacity. In the US Customary System it varies, as a liquid measure, from 31 to 42 gallons (117 to 159 liters) as established by law or usage.
Bucket
To move or proceed rapidly and jerkily
Bucketing over the unpaved lane.
Barrel
The thicker portion of a baseball bat, from which the most powerful hits are struck.
Bucket
To make haste; hustle.
Barrel
The cylindrical part of a firearm through which the bullet travels.
Bucket
A container made of rigid material, often with a handle, used to carry liquids or small items.
Barrel
A cylinder that contains a movable piston.
Bucket
The amount held in this container.
Barrel
The drum of a capstan.
Bucket
A large amount of liquid.
Barrel
The cylinder within the mechanism of a timepiece that contains the mainspring.
Bucket
A great deal of anything.
Barrel
The trunk of a quadruped animal, such as a horse or cow.
Bucket
A unit of measure equal to four gallons.
Barrel
The tubular space inside a wave when it is breaking.
Bucket
Part of a piece of machinery that resembles a bucket (container).
Barrel
(Informal) A large quantity
A barrel of fun.
Bucket
An insult term used in Toronto to refer to someone who habitually uses crack cocaine.
Barrel
(Slang) An act or instance of moving rapidly, often recklessly, in a motor vehicle.
Bucket
(slang) An old vehicle that is not in good working order.
Barrel
Resembling or similar to a barrel, as in shape
A barrel chest.
Barrel hips.
Bucket
The basket.
Barrel
To put or pack in a barrel.
Bucket
A field goal.
Barrel
To move or progress rapidly
"That the European Union barreled ahead was not surprising" (Richard W. Stevenson).
Bucket
(variation management) A mechanism for avoiding the allocation of targets in cases of mismanagement.
Barrel
(countable) A round (cylindrical) vessel, such as a cask, of greater length than breadth, and bulging in the middle, made of staves bound with hoops, and having flat ends (head). Sometimes applied to a similar cylindrical container made of metal, usually called a drum.
A cracker barrel
Bucket
(computing) A storage space in a hash table for every item sharing a particular key.
Barrel
Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun#Noun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
Bucket
A turbine blade driven by hot gas or steam.
Barrel
The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.
Bucket
A bucket bag.
Barrel
A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case
The barrel of a windlass;
The barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.
Bucket
The leather socket for holding the whip when driving, or for the carbine or lance when mounted.
Barrel
A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
Bucket
The pitcher in certain orchids.
Barrel
(television) A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.
Bucket
A helmet.
Barrel
(archaic) A tube.
Bucket
(transitive) To place inside a bucket.
Barrel
(zoology) The hollow basal part of a feather.
Bucket
(transitive) To draw or lift in, or as if in, buckets.
Barrel
(music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).
Bucket
To rain heavily.
Barrel
(surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.
Bucket
To travel very quickly.
Barrel
A waste receptacle.
Throw it into the trash barrel.
Bucket
(transitive) To ride (a horse) hard or mercilessly.
Barrel
The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.
Bucket
To criticize vehemently; to denigrate.
Barrel
(obsolete) A jar.
Bucket
To categorize (data) by splitting it into buckets, or groups of related items.
Barrel
(biology) Any of the dark-staining regions in the somatosensory cortex of rodents, etc., where somatosensory inputs from the contralateral side of the body come in from the thalamus.
Bucket
To make, or cause to make (the recovery), with a certain hurried or unskillful forward swing of the body.
Barrel
(baseball) A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.
Bucket
A vessel for drawing up water from a well, or for catching, holding, or carrying water, sap, or other liquids.
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,The moss-covered bucket, which hung in the well.
Barrel
(transitive) To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
Bucket
A vessel (as a tub or scoop) for hoisting and conveying coal, ore, grain, etc.
Barrel
(intransitive) To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.
He came barrelling around the corner and I almost hit him.
Bucket
One of the receptacles on the rim of a water wheel into which the water rushes, causing the wheel to revolve; also, a float of a paddle wheel.
Barrel
(intransitive) To assume the shape of a barrel; specifically, of the image on a computer display, television, etc., to exhibit barrel distortion, where the sides bulge outwards.
Bucket
The valved piston of a lifting pump.
Barrel
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.
Bucket
One of vanes on the rotor of a turbine.
Barrel
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.
Bucket
A bucketfull.
Barrel
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.
Bucket
To draw or lift in, or as if in, buckets; as, to bucket water.
Barrel
A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.
Bucket
To pour over from a bucket; to drench.
Barrel
A jar.
Bucket
To ride (a horse) hard or mercilessly.
Barrel
The hollow basal part of a feather.
Bucket
To make, or cause to make (the recovery), with a certain hurried or unskillful forward swing of the body.
Barrel
To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.
Bucket
A roughly cylindrical that is vessel open at the top
Barrel
A tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired
Bucket
The quantity contained in a bucket
Barrel
A cylindrical container that holds liquids
Bucket
Put into a bucket
Barrel
A bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends
Bucket
Carry in a bucket
Barrel
The quantity that a barrel (of any size) will hold
Barrel
Any of various units of capacity;
A barrel of beer is 31 gallons and a barrel of oil is 42 gallons
Barrel
Put in barrels
Common Curiosities
Can barrels be used for substances other than liquids?
Yes, barrels can also store solids, such as grains or powders, but they are primarily designed for liquids.
How do barrels enhance the flavor of spirits?
The interaction between the liquid and the wood adds complexity and improves the flavor of spirits during aging.
Are buckets suitable for long-term storage?
Buckets are not typically used for long-term storage, especially of perishable goods, due to less secure sealing options.
Can barrels be reused?
Yes, barrels, especially those made of wood, can be reused for storage or aging, though the influence on flavor may diminish with repeated use.
Do buckets have any special features?
Some buckets have features like spouts for pouring, lids for covering, and scales for measuring volume, enhancing their utility.
Can buckets be used in industrial applications?
Yes, buckets are used in various industrial applications for carrying materials, mixing substances, and as part of machinery.
What is the historical significance of barrels?
Barrels have been crucial for centuries in the storage and transport of goods, particularly for liquids like wine, beer, and spirits, playing a key role in trade and commerce.
Are there different sizes of barrels?
Yes, barrels come in various sizes, with the most common ones being the standard wine barrel and the oil barrel, each with specific capacities.
How do you clean a bucket?
Buckets can be easily cleaned with soap and water, making them suitable for repeated and versatile use.
What is the significance of a barrel's shape?
A barrel’s bulging shape strengthens its structure and makes it easier to roll and handle, optimizing it for transport and storage.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Maham Liaqat
