Barrel (unit)
A barrel is one of several units of volume, with dry barrels, fluid barrels (UK beer barrel, US beer barrel), oil barrel, etc. The volume of some barrel units is double others, with various volumes in the range of about 100–200 litres (22–44 imp gal; 26–53 US gal), due to historical reasons. Since medieval times the measure barrel has been used with different meanings around Europe, from about 100 litres to above 1000 in special cases. The name comes from medieval French baril. In most countries, its use is mainly obsolete, superseded by SI units. Thus the meaning of corresponding words in other languages normally refers to a physical barrel, not a known measure. In the international oil market context, however, prices in USD per barrel are commonly used. Also, beer kegs are made in standardised volumes.
Read more about Barrel (unit): Dry Goods in The US, Fluid Barrel in The US and UK, Oil Barrel
Famous quotes containing the word barrel:
“When you got to the table you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them. That is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)