cage

[ keyj ]
See synonyms for cage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a boxlike enclosure having wires, bars, or the like, for confining and displaying birds or animals.

  2. anything that confines or imprisons; prison.

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

  2. the car or enclosed platform of an elevator.

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

  4. any skeleton framework.

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

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

  7. Basketball: Older Use. the basket.

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

  9. Ordnance. a steel framework for supporting guns.

  10. Machinery. retainer1 (def. 3).

verb (used with object),caged, cag·ing.
  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.

Origin of cage

1
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

Other words for cage

Other words from cage

  • cageless, adjective
  • cagelike, adjective
  • re·cage, verb (used with object), re·caged, re·cag·ing.

Words Nearby cage

Other definitions for Cage (2 of 2)

Cage
[ keyj ]

noun
  1. John, 1912–1992, U.S. composer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cage (1 of 2)

cage

/ (keɪdʒ) /


noun
    • an enclosure, usually made with bars or wire, for keeping birds, monkeys, mice, etc

    • (as modifier): cagebird

  1. a thing or place that confines or imprisons

  1. something resembling a cage in function or structure: the rib cage

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

  3. 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

  4. informal the basket used in basketball

  5. informal the goal in ice hockey

  6. US a steel framework on which guns are supported

  7. rattle someone's cage informal to upset or anger someone

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

Origin of cage

1
C13: from Old French, from Latin cavea enclosure, from cavus hollow

British Dictionary definitions for Cage (2 of 2)

Cage

/ (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)

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