cork

¹ American  

[kawrk] / kɔrk /

noun

1. the spongy layer of bark of the cork oak, used for making a wide range of products, including bottle stoppers, beverage coasters, fishing rod handles, bulletin boards, sound and heat insulation, and flooring materials.

2. cork oak.

3. something made of cork, as produced from the spongy bark of the cork oak.

   Bring that cork in here—we’re using it as a dartboard.

4. a piece of cork, rubber, or the like used as a stopper, as for a bottle.

   The cork you gave me is too large for this jug.

5. Angling. a small float to buoy up a fishing line or to indicate that a fish is biting.

   When the cork starts bobbing, you’ve got a fish!

6. Also called phellem, suber.  Botany. an outer tissue of bark produced by and exterior to the phellogen.

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verb (used with object)

1. to stop with or as if with a cork (often followed byup ).

   The bottles are mechanically corked, two dozen at a time.

   Cork these up and put them back in the cooler.

2. to provide or fit with cork or a cork.

   They’re tiling floors and corking walls in her new studio.

3. to blacken with burnt cork.

   During war games, they learned to cork their faces when operating under moonlight.

idioms

1. blow / pop one's cork, to lose one's temper; release one's emotional or physical tension.

Cork ² American  

[kawrk] / kɔrk /

noun

1. a county in Munster province, in S Republic of Ireland. 2,881 sq. mi. (7,460 sq. km).

2. a seaport in and the county seat of Cork, in the S part.

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cork ¹ British  

/ kɔːk /

noun

1. the thick light porous outer bark of the cork oak, used widely as an insulator and for stoppers for bottles, casks, etc

2. a piece of cork or other material used as a stopper

3. an angling float

4. Also called: phellem.  botany a protective layer of dead impermeable cells on the outside of the stems and roots of woody plants, produced by the outer layer of the cork cambium

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adjective

1. made of cork

verb

1. to stop up (a bottle, cask, etc) with or as if with a cork; fit with a cork

2. (often foll by up) to restrain

   to cork up the emotions

3. to black (the face, hands, etc) with burnt cork

Cork ² British  

/ kɔːk /

noun

1. a county of SW Republic of Ireland, in Munster province: crossed by ridges of low mountains; scenic coastline. County town: Cork. Pop: 447 829 (2002). Area: 7459 sq km (2880 sq miles)

2. a city and port in S Republic of Ireland, county town of Co Cork, at the mouth of the River Lee: seat of the University College of Cork (1849). Pop: 186 239 (2002)

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cork Scientific  

/ kôrk /

1. The outermost layer of tissue in woody plants that is resistant to the passage of water vapor and gases and that becomes the bark. Cork is secondary tissue, formed on the outside of the tissue layer known as cork cambium. The cell walls of cork cells contain suberin. Once they mature, cork cells die.

2. Also called phellem

3. The lightweight, elastic outer bark of the cork oak, which grows near the Mediterranean Sea. Cork is used for bottle stoppers, insulation, and other products.

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Other Word Forms

• corklike adjective
• recork verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of cork

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English cork(e), of disputed origin; perhaps via Dutch or German from Old Spanish alcorque “cork shoe,” ultimately from dialectal Arabic qurq, perhaps from Latin quercus “oak” ( see also fir ( def. )); alternatively, instead from Spanish corcho, from Mozarabic, from Latin cortex “bark” ( see cortex ( def. ))

Explanation

Cork is a lightweight material made from the bark of a particular kind of oak tree. Cork is used in all sorts of ways, from flooring to fishing rod handles to bulletin boards. When cork bark is harvested from a cork oak tree, it doesn't harm the tree itself — this quality is part of what makes cork a useful, renewable material. It shows up in shoes, insulation, wall tiles, and badminton shuttlecocks, as well as bottle stoppers, which are also called corks. The word is from the Spanish alcorque, "cork-soled sandal," which ultimately comes from the Latin name for the cork oak tree, quercus.

Example Sentences

A double cork is a complex and technical trick in skiing which includes two off-axis flips.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

Maybe it’s the way the planet ignores these sports for three years and 50 weeks before comically leaning in like we’re all Ph.D.s in lutzes and double cork 1080s.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026

Removing the cork reduces that pressure, allowing gas to separate into bubbles.

From Science Daily • Nov. 22, 2025

Much to her delight, Brettler discovered Soriano’s original blueprints, along with laminate and cork samples, and a scrapbook detailing the construction process, stored beneath the house.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 11, 2025

When Spurge said, “Pull out the cork, Werfel. What’s going on?”

From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin