Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary полностью

bar|rage /bæ rɑːʒ, [AM ] bərɑː ʒ/ (barrages , barraging , barraged ) Pronounced /bɑː r I dʒ/ for meaning 4 in American English. 1 N‑COUNT A barrage is continuous firing on an area with large guns and tanks. □  The two fighters were driven off by a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.

2 N‑COUNT [usu sing] A barrage of something such as criticism or complaints is a large number of them directed at someone, often in an aggressive way. □ [+ of ] He was faced with a barrage of angry questions from the floor.

3 VERB [usu passive] If you are barraged by people or things, you have to deal with a great number of people or things you would rather avoid. □ [be V -ed + by ] Doctors are complaining about being barraged by drug-company salesmen. □ [be V -ed + with ] He was barraged with calls from friends who were furious at the indiscreet disclosures.

4 N‑COUNT A barrage is a structure that is built across a river to control the level of the water. □  …a hydro-electric tidal barrage.

ba r|rage bal|loon (barrage balloons ) N‑COUNT Barrage balloons are large balloons which are fixed to the ground by strong steel cables. They are used in wartime, when the cables are intended to destroy low-flying enemy aircraft.

bar|rel ◆◇◇ /bæ rəl/ (barrels , barrelling , barrelled ) in AM, use barreling , barreled 1 N‑COUNT A barrel is a large, round container for liquids or food. □  The wine is aged for almost a year in oak barrels.

2 N‑COUNT In the oil industry, a barrel is a unit of measurement equal to 159 litres. □ [+ of ] Fully operational, the pipe can pump one million barrels of oil a day. □  Oil prices were closing at $19.76 a barrel.

3 N‑COUNT [n N ] The barrel of a gun is the tube through which the bullet moves when the gun is fired. □ [+ of ] He pushed the barrel of the gun into the other man's open mouth.

4 VERB If a vehicle or person is barrelling in a particular direction, they are moving very quickly in that direction. [mainly AM ] □ [V prep/adv] The car was barreling down the street at a crazy speed.

5 → see also pork barrel

6 PHRASE If you say, for example, that someone moves or buys something lock, stock, and barrel , you are emphasizing that they move or buy every part or item of it. [EMPHASIS ] □  They dug up their New Jersey garden and moved it lock, stock, and barrel back home.

7 PHRASE If you say that someone is scraping the barrel , or scraping the bottom of the barrel , you disapprove of the fact that they are using or doing something of extremely poor quality. [INFORMAL , DISAPPROVAL ]

-barrelled /-bæ rəld/ in AM, use -barreled 1 COMB -barrelled combines with adjectives to form adjectives that describe a gun which has a barrel or barrels of the specified type. □  …a short-barreled rifle. □  …a double-barrelled shotgun.

2 → see also double-barrelled

ba r|rel or|gan (barrel organs ) N‑COUNT A barrel organ is a large machine that plays music when you turn the handle on the side. Barrel organs used to be played in the street to entertain people.

bar|ren /bæ rən/

1 ADJ A barren landscape is dry and bare, and has very few plants and no trees. □  …the country's landscape of high barren mountains.

2 ADJ Barren land consists of soil that is so poor that plants cannot grow in it. □  He also wants to use the water to irrigate barren desert land.

3 ADJ If you describe something such as an activity or a period of your life as barren , you mean that you achieve no success during it or that it has no useful results. [WRITTEN ] □ [+ of ] …politics that are banal and barren of purpose. □  …the player, who ended a 14-month barren spell by winning the Tokyo event in October.