cask

[ kask, kahsk ]

noun

1. a container made and shaped like a barrel, especially one larger and stronger, for holding liquids.
2. the quantity such a container holds:

   wine at 32 guineas a cask.

verb (used with object)

1. to place or store in a cask.

cask

/ kɑːsk /

noun

1. a strong wooden barrel used mainly to hold alcoholic drink

   a wine cask

2. any barrel
3. the quantity contained in a cask
4. a lightweight cardboard container with plastic lining and a small tap, used to hold and serve wine
5. engineering another name for flask

Other Words From

• casklike adjective
• un·cask verb (used with object)
• un·casked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cask¹

1425–75; late Middle English; back formation from casket, the -et being taken as the diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of cask¹

C15: from Spanish casco helmet, perhaps from cascar to break

Example Sentences

Alternatively, laboratory assays can measure agedness by checking whiskeys for flavorful chemicals called congeners, absorbed from wood casks, but such analyses can be expensive.

From Science News

Machines will inject argon gas between the two canisters to provide an inert atmosphere, and the copper cask will be welded shut.

From Singularity Hub 

As fire fell through the hatchway, the men set a cask into the cellar and spread a train of powder across the floor.

From Time

Well, for one, maple cask bourbon whiskey after a day on the slopes.

From Outside Online

He uses traditional ex-bourbon casks to age the flagship Puni Gold and ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry barrels to make Sole.

From Washington Post

The resulting product included four single-cask variants along with finished pictures of McKidd enjoying a glass of The Macallan.

From The Daily Beast

A bottle of The Glenlivet, aged in the cask longer than Poppet and Buster put together.

From The Daily Beast

I learned that day of a process called “dry cask storage” that seems to offer a safer alternative.

From The Daily Beast

Age whiskey in a sherry cask and it takes on flavor from the wood.

From The Daily Beast

Little did Tressan dream to what a cask of gunpowder he was applying the match of his smug pertness.

From Project Gutenberg

Near the stream we found some felled trees and the staves of a cask.

From Project Gutenberg

At this point he lost his balance, and went rolling to leeward like an empty cask.

From Project Gutenberg

I could see that a powerful effort was needed to keep him off the vexed question of the cask of beer, but he made it.

From Project Gutenberg

No rattle responded; but the despairing fact became apparent: the cask was empty!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• keg