over a barrel
over a barrel prepositional phrase: in a disadvantageous or helpless situation, especially one in which one may be controlled or victimized.
Prepositional phrase
- In a disadvantageous or helpless situation, especially one in which one may be controlled or victimized.
- Ford had the U.A.W. over a barrel; if it failed to sign by midnight, the U.A.W. would be forced to give up its union shop.1947 September 1, “Happy Day”, in Time
- Bruce Ohr revealed that "an unnamed former Russian intelligence official had communicated that Russian intelligence believed 'they had Trump over a barrel', a "sentiment [that] is echoed in Steele's dossier".2018 September 1, “AP sources: Lawyer was told Russia had 'Trump over a barrel'”, in AP News
- Synonyms:
- up a tree, up the creek, have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms
Synonyms of over a barrel
- up a tree
- up the creek
- have someone by the short hairs § Synonyms
Origin of over a barrel
According to The Oxford English Dictionary and The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, the phrase possibly refers to the act of placing an individual who has been rescued from drowning over a barrel to allow their lungs to clear of water.
Questions about over a barrel
- What does over a barrel mean?
- Over a barrel means in a disadvantageous or helpless situation, especially one in which one may be controlled or victimized.
- What part of speech is over a barrel?
- Over a barrel is a prepositional phrase.
Words near over a barrel in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: over a barrel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-over a barrel.ogg.
Cite this entry: “over a barrel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/over_a_barrel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.