cask

American  

[kask, kahsk] / kæsk, kɑsk /

noun

• casks
  plural

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.

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verb (used with object)

1. to place or store in a cask.

cask British  

/ 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

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncask
  verb (used with object)
• casklike
  adjective
• uncasked
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• casks
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cask

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

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Explanation

A barrel-shaped container that holds wine or other, usually alcoholic, beverages is called a cask. If you visit a winery, you will often see many rows of wooden wine-filled casks lining the caves and cellars of the winery. If you have a large party, you can open a cask of wine. Experts aren't exactly sure what the origin of the word cask is. They know that it is a noun that comes from the Middle French word casque or the Spanish word casco, and both mean "helmet," but how we got from helmet to wine-filled barrel-shaped container is unclear. Students may have heard of the word cask from Edgar Allan Poe's famous short story of revenge and murder set in a wine cellar, "The Cask of Amontillado."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cask casks

The ships, loaded with horses, men and a giant cask of wine, recede to the horizon of the Channel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

It’s enough to “lead me to open the cask of flip.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

This week, the Tennessee-born chain, once defined by its gingham-tinted nostalgia, retired the logo of a man in overalls leaning against a wooden cask in favor of a stripped-down wordmark.

From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2025

It takes three years for spirit to become Scotch whisky in a cask, and investors are encouraged to keep barrels for up to 10 years or more to maximise returns.

From BBC ● Mar. 26, 2025

Before the tsunami, 408 spent fuel assemblies had been packed into cement casks on the plant grounds, in what is known as dry cask storage.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland

Spent nuclear fuel is stored in lead and stainless steel casks and bolted into concrete at a specially built pad at Diablo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

It is a deal that improves trade conditions for Scotch and Irish whiskey being sold to America, as well as US bourbon and used casks coming into the UK market.

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

They would need to be put into transportation casks to protect against accidents.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

If you let him, Alasdair Day, the co-founder and master distiller, will speak at length about oak species and cask types—I particularly enjoyed a limited release aged in Sicilian Marsala wine casks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026

Its eggs were unwittingly brought aboard ships in water casks, where they hatched into larvae and grew into adult mosquitoes in seven days.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

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