Dictionary

bbl en · NOUN · etymology 1

Etymology

Often thought to be modified from bl for barrel (b⸺l), reflecting a way of abbreviating that was used especially in previous centuries (compare do for ditto), wherein a doubled letter indicated plural count, as also with p.=page but pp.=pages and l.=line but ll.=lines; this method was used not only in English but also in scholarly New Latin and other modern languages heavily affected thereby, such as with Spanish EE. UU. According to this idea, addition of the suffix -s, as sometimes seen (e.g., 5 bbls or 5 bbls.), would seem to have come from writers who left the unit abbreviation itself unanalyzed (unparsed), thus adding a venially redundant marker of plural, somewhat like with MPGs for miles per gallon. Some sources claim that the abbreviation bbl is from Standard Oil's 42-gallon blue barrels. But this is contested: one source calls this a "persistent oilfield myth" and notes that "the abbreviation 'bbl' had been in use before the 1859 birth of the petroleum industry". Nonetheless, Standard Oil's blue barrels may have helped the bbl abbreviation stick.

Meanings

1. (especially, in the 20th and 21st centuries, qualifier:most often) Abbreviation of barrels and occasionally also of barrel (singular). ▸ Volumes of crude oil pumped, stored, or sold (in bulk).
   • measured in 1000-bbl units
   • At present prices, cylindrical steel tankage in 55,000-bbl. units costs approximately 73c. per barrel storage. 1920 May 8, H. T. Carlton, “New design for oil tankage”, in Engineering and Mining Journal, volume 109, number 19, retrieved 05 Mar 2023, page 1079:
   • The overflush consisted of 100 bbls of uncrosslinked 3000 ppm polymer, followed by one wellbore volume (~150 bbls) plus 450 bbls crude behind pipe. 1995, Proceedings, International Meeting on Petroleum Engineering, page 63:
2. (especially, in previous centuries) Abbreviation of barrels and occasionally also of barrel (singular). ▸ Barrels (casks) transported or sold, or the volume that they represent.
   • […]5 hhds. rum/ 5 bbls. flour/ 1 bbl. sugar/ 9 do. pork/ 1 do. suett/ 3 do. cocoa/ 6 do. peas/ 2 ullage bbls. vinegar[…] 1815 Niles Weekly Register volume 8, Supplement, p. 152. From an inventory of the frigate Confiance
   • 4 bbl. vinegar $32.00, 3 bbl. cider part full $6.50 1881, Ulster County, New York, County Legislature, Minutes of the Board of Supervisors of Ulster County, page 234:
   • 5 bbls. flour
   • Quantity & quality of Beef to be put in a bbl. 1791 June 16, Government of New Hampshire, “An Act to Regulate the Exportation of Beef and Pork”, in The Laws of the State of New-Hampshire & c., United States: J. Melcher, page 334 (marginal heading):
3. (qualifier:internal combustion engines) Abbreviation of barrels and occasionally also of barrel (singular). ▸ Venturis in carburetion.
   • 4-bbl carburetor
   • 1-bbl carburetor
   • three 2-bbl carbs

Forms

Coordinates

hhd.

Relateds

BBL · BBL · BBL

Synonyms

V · v

Translations (1)

ro baril (abbreviation of "barrel")

bbl en · X · etymology 2

Meanings

1. (Internet, alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of BBL.
   alt of BBL