barrel roll

noun

1
: an airplane maneuver in which a complete revolution about the longitudinal axis is made
2
: a usually accidental occurrence in which a vehicle rolls completely over along its longitudinal axis
If the accident is violent enough to cause a couple of barrel rolls, the car will do so, despite the flaps.Connie Steele
barrel-roll verb, transitive + intransitive
He once flipped a car at 225 miles per hour and barrel-rolled another at 307 mph. Preston Lerner

Examples of barrel roll in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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In addition to tilt and pressure sensitivity, the Apple Pencil Pro adds squeeze and delete functions to the palette along with a new barrel roll gesture and haptic vibrational feedback. Cierra Cowan, PC Magazine, 11 July 2025 The angles of the takeoff and landing ramps were precisely calculated so that the car would do a perfect barrel roll through the air at exactly 48 mph (78 km/h). Joe Salas june 07, New Atlas, 7 June 2025 This man fell flat on his back, quickly did a little barrel roll thing, gathered himself and still had time to locate the ball and make a flippantly awesome catch. Chris Branch, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025 The dual-launch Mack Rides racing coaster will reach a top speed of 62 miles per hour over 5,000 feet of track while navigating a barrel roll and zero-G roll. Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register, 19 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for barrel roll

Word History

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of barrel roll was in 1917

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Cite this Entry

“Barrel roll.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrel%20roll. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.

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