Barrel vs. Heap — What's the Difference?

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.

A group of things placed or thrown, one on top of the other

A cylindrical container bulging out in the middle, traditionally made of wooden staves with metal hoops round them

Often heaps(Informal) A great deal; a lot

A tube forming part of an object such as a gun or a pen

(Slang) An old or run-down car.

The belly and loins of a four-legged animal such as a horse

To put or throw in a pile

Drive or move in a way that is so fast as to almost be out of control

To fill completely or to overflowing

Put into a barrel or barrels

To bestow in abundance or lavishly

A large cylindrical container, usually made of staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom of equal diameter.

A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of people.

The quantity that a barrel with a given or standard capacity will hold.

A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation.

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.

A great number or large quantity of things.

The thicker portion of a baseball bat, from which the most powerful hits are struck.

(computing) A data structure consisting of trees in which each node is greater than all its children.

The cylindrical part of a firearm through which the bullet travels.

(computing) Memory that is dynamically allocated.

A cylinder that contains a movable piston.

(colloquial) A dilapidated place or vehicle.

The drum of a capstan.

(colloquial) A lot, a large amount

The cylinder within the mechanism of a timepiece that contains the mainspring.

(transitive) To pile in a heap.

The trunk of a quadruped animal, such as a horse or cow.

(transitive) To form or round into a heap, as in measuring.

The tubular space inside a wave when it is breaking.

(transitive) To supply in great quantity.

(Informal) A large quantity

Very; representing broken English stereotypically or comically attributed to Native Americans

(Slang) An act or instance of moving rapidly, often recklessly, in a motor vehicle.

A crowd; a throng; a multitude or great number of persons.

Resembling or similar to a barrel, as in shape

A great number or large quantity of things not placed in a pile; as, a heap of trouble.

To put or pack in a barrel.

A pile or mass; a collection of things laid in a body, or thrown together so as to form an elevation; as, a heap of earth or stones.

To move or progress rapidly

To collect in great quantity; to amass; to lay up; to accumulate; - usually with up; as, to heap up treasures.

(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.

To throw or lay in a heap; to make a heap of; to pile; as, to heap stones; - often with up; as, to heap up earth; or with on; as, to heap on wood or coal.

Such a cask of a certain size, holding one-eighth of what a tun#Noun holds. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)

To form or round into a heap, as in measuring; to fill (a measure) more than even full.

The quantity which constitutes a full barrel: the volume or weight this represents varies by local law and custom.

A collection of objects laid on top of each other

A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case

(often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent;

A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.

A car that is old and unreliable;

(television) A ceiling-mounted tube from which lights are suspended.

Bestow in large quantities;

(archaic) A tube.

Arrange in stacks;

(zoology) The hollow basal part of a feather.

Fill to overflow;

(music) The part of a clarinet which connects the mouthpiece and upper joint, and looks rather like a barrel (1).

(surfing) A wave that breaks with a hollow compartment.

A waste receptacle.

The ribs and belly of a horse or pony.

(obsolete) A jar.

(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.

(baseball) A statistic derived from launch angle and exit velocity of a ball hit in play.

(transitive) To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.

(intransitive) To move quickly or in an uncontrolled manner.

(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.

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.

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.

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.

A metallic tube, as of a gun, from which a projectile is discharged.

A jar.

The hollow basal part of a feather.

To put or to pack in a barrel or barrels.

A tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired

A cylindrical container that holds liquids

A bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends

The quantity that a barrel (of any size) will hold

Any of various units of capacity;

Put in barrels