Barrel

BARREL (כַּד, H3902). A word rendered “barrel” in the KJV and ERV, and “jar” in the ASV and RSV, of 1 Kings 17:12, 14, 16; 18:33. It was a large earthenware jar used in the E for carrying water from a well and for storing grain. The Heb. word is elsewhere rendered “pitcher” (e.g., Eccl 12:6).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

bar’-el: The word "barrel" in the King James Version (see 1Ki 17:12,14,16; 18:33: "The barrel of meal," "fill four barrels with water," etc.) stands for the large earthenware jar (so the American Standard Revised Version) used in the East for carrying water from the spring or well, and for storing grain, etc., according to a custom that still persists. It is elsewhere (EV) more fitly rendered "pitcher."

See House; Pitcher, etc.