cage

¹ American  

[keyj] / keɪdʒ /

noun

1. a boxlike enclosure having wires, bars, or the like, for confining and displaying birds or animals.

   Synonyms:

   pound, enclosure, coop, pen

2. anything that confines or imprisons; prison.

3. something resembling a cage in structure, as for a cashier or bank teller.

4. the car or enclosed platform of an elevator.

5. Mining. an enclosed platform for raising and lowering people and cars in a mine shaft.

6. any skeleton framework.

7. Baseball. a movable backstop for use mainly in batting practice.

8. a frame with a net attached to it, forming the goal in ice hockey and field hockey.

9. Basketball: Older Use. the basket.

10. a loose, sheer or lacy overdress worn with a slip or a close-fitting dress.

11. Ordnance. a steel framework for supporting guns.

12. Machinery. retainer.

---

verb (used with object)

caged, caging

1. to put or confine in or as if in a cage.

2. Sports. to shoot (as a puck) into a cage so as to score a goal.

Cage ² American  

[keyj] / keɪdʒ /

noun

1. John, 1912–1992, U.S. composer.

---

cage ¹ British  

/ keɪdʒ /

noun

1. 1. an enclosure, usually made with bars or wire, for keeping birds, monkeys, mice, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      cagebird

2. a thing or place that confines or imprisons

3. something resembling a cage in function or structure

   the rib cage

4. the enclosed platform of a lift, esp as used in a mine

5. engineering a skeleton ring device that ensures that the correct amount of space is maintained between the individual rollers or balls in a rolling bearing

6. informal the basket used in basketball

7. informal the goal in ice hockey

8. a steel framework on which guns are supported

9. informal to upset or anger someone

---

verb

1. (tr) to confine in or as in a cage

Cage ² British  

/ keɪdʒ /

noun

1. John. 1912–92, US composer of experimental music for a variety of conventional, modified, or invented instruments. He evolved a type of music apparently undetermined by the composer, such as in Imaginary Landscape (1951) for 12 radio sets. Other works include Reunion (1968), Apartment Building 1776 (1976), and Europeras 3 and 4 (1990)

---

Other Word Forms

• cageless adjective
• cagelike adjective
• recage verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of cage

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin cavea “birdcage,” equivalent to cav(us) “hollow” + -ea, feminine of -eus adjective suffix

Example Sentences

A hen clucked and rattled its cage in a corner.

From Literature

Hedda paces around the villa, sketched with modernist spareness by scenic designer Mark Wendland, like a panther in a gold-plated cage.

From Los Angeles Times

Dystopian military vehicles straight out of Mad Max rumble past, encased in their own cages of steel and netting.

From BBC

Roads near the front have been equipped with protective nets attempting to stop attacking drones, while trucks fitted with anti-drone cages and drone jammers speed along them.

From Barron's

She felt like a tiger in a cage, trying to burst free.

From Literature

Related Words

• crate
• enclosure
• jail
• pen