cage

¹

[keyj]

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

[keyj]

noun

1. John, 1912–1992, U.S. composer.

cage

¹

/ 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

/ 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)

Word History and Origins

Origin of cage¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of cage¹

C13: from Old French, from Latin cavea enclosure, from cavus hollow

Example Sentences

Given the increasingly dire warnings about artificial intelligence, however, they might also be likened to a cage.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The lesson is clear: Protectionism might seem like a shield, but it easily becomes a cage.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But the charm is that they are surrounded by towering, elevator-less 1980s apartment buildings, where people hang clothes to dry in metal window cages.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"They beat us, dragged us along the ground, blindfolded us, tied our hands and feet, put us in cages and insulted us," he alleged.

Read more on BBC

Researchers with the Nature Conservancy may release stars in cages in Monterey Bay as soon as September, replicating a step Hodin’s team took before sending them out on their own.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• crate 
• enclosure 
• jail 
• pen