cache

[ kash ]

/ kæʃ /

noun

a hiding place, especially one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.: She hid her jewelry in a little cache in the cellar.

anything so hidden: The enemy never found our cache of food.

Computers. a temporary storage space or memory that allows fast access to data: Web browser cache; CPU cache.

Alaska and Northern Canada. a small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food, equipment, etc.

verb (used with object), cached, cach·ing.

to put in a cache; conceal; hide.

Nearby words

Origin of cache

1585–95; < French, noun derivative of cacher to hide < Vulgar Latin *coācticāre to stow away, orig. to pack together, equivalent to Latin coāct(us) collected (past participle of cōgere; see coactive¹) + -icā- formative v. suffix + -re infinitive ending

SYNONYMS FOR cache

2. hoard, stockpile, reserve, store. 5. secrete.

Can be confusedcache cachet cash

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for caching

He invented a set of algorithms that helped speed up the transfer of information dramatically by “caching.”
This Week’s Hot Reads: Sept. 17, 2013|Sarah Stodola|September 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Grain was sent to the mill and ground, and preparations were made for caching it in the earth.
Wilford Woodruff|Matthias F. Cowley
Caching canoe and provisions on July 4, he marched overland.
Canada: the Empire of the North|Agnes C. Laut
The Squire folded the paper carefully and put it away in his breast pocket with the manner of one caching a treasure.
When Egypt Went Broke|Holman Day

Such contingencies have given rise to a method of secreting articles called by the old French Canadian voyagers "caching."
The Prairie Traveler|Randolph Marcy
At the first ravine, one cow succeeded in caching her calf—the other failed.
Red Hunters And the Animal People|Charles A. Eastman

British Dictionary definitions for caching

cache

/ (kæʃ) /

noun

a hidden store of provisions, weapons, treasure, etc

the place where such a store is hidden

computing a small high-speed memory that improves computer performance

verb

(tr) to store in a cache

Word Origin for cache

C19: from French, from cacher to hide

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for caching

cache

1797, "hiding place," from French Canadian trappers' slang, "hiding place for stores" (1660s), a back-formation from French cacher "to hide, conceal" (13c., Old French cachier), from Vulgar Latin *coacticare "store up, collect, compress," frequentative of Latin coactare "constrain," from coactus, past participle of cogere "to collect" (see cogent). Sense extended by 1830s to "anything stored in a hiding place."

Science definitions for caching