Search the Dictionary

ine guns which transfers the cartridge to a position from which it can be thrust into the barrel. Carrier pigeon (Zoöl.), a variety of the domestic pigeon used to convey letters from a distant point to to its home. -- Carrier shell (Zoöl.), a univalve shell of the genus Phorus; -- so called because it fastens bits of…

mand of the Manual of Arms directing the soldier to hold his piece in the right hand, the barrel resting against the hollow of the shoulder in a nearly perpendicular position. In this position the soldier is said to stand, and the musket to be held, at carry. -- To carry all before one, to overcome all obstacles; to h…

A barrel-shaped vessel made of staves headings, and hoops, usually fitted together so as to hold liquids. It may be larger or smaller than a barrel.

To fix or demand as a prince; as, he charges two dollars a barrelk for apples.

A piece of timber or an iron barrel traversed with iron-pointed spikes or spears, five or six feet long, used to defend a passage, stop a breach, or impede the advance of cavalry, etc. Obstructions of chain, boom, and cheval-de-frise. W. Irving.

To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun. To choke off, to stop a person in the execution of a purpose; as, to choke off a speaker by uproar.

To scrape, scratch, or dig with a claw, or with the hand as a claw. "Clawing [in ash barrels] for bits of coal." W. D. Howells. To claw off (Naut.), to turn to windward and beat, to prevent falling on a lee shore.

A barrel or cask for liquor. [Obs.] Johnson.

One who makes barrels, hogsheads, casks, etc.

Work done by a cooper in making or repairing barrels, casks, etc.; the business of a cooper.

A measure for fresh herrings, -- as many as will fill a barrel. [Scot.] H. Miller.

The barrel of an air or other pump.

s or wires of iron and steel elaborately twisted and welded together; used for making gun barrels, etc., of high quality, in which the surface, when polished and acted upon by acid, has a damasc appearance. -- Damascus steel. See Damask steel, under Damask, a.

A kind of short-barreled pocket pistol, of very large caliber, often carrying a half-ounce ball.

to one leg of the tube. -- Differential windlass, or Chinese windlass, a windlass whose barrel has two parts of different diameters. The hoisting rope winds upon one part as it unwinds from the other, and a pulley sustaining the weight to be lifted hangs in the bight of the rope. It is an ancient example of a differe…

Barrel-shaped, or like a cask in form.

the air is rarefied by heat. -- On draught, so as to be drawn from the wood (as a cask, barrel, etc.) in distinction from being bottled; as, ale on draught. -- Sheer draught. See under Sheer.

To enlarge the bore of a gun barrel by drawing, instead of thrusting, a revolving tool through it.

ving several pulleys, by means of belts or straps passing around its periphery; also, the barrel of a hoisting machine, on which the rope or chain is wound.

al than the mass consists of, for purpose of deception, as the surface of a box of tea, a barrel of sugar, etc.