socket
[ sok-it ]
/ ˈsɒk ɪt /
noun
a hollow part or piece for receiving and holding some part or thing.
Electricity.
- a device intended to hold an electric light bulb mechanically and connect it electrically to circuit wires.
- Also called wall socket. a socket placed in a wall to receive a plug that makes an electrical connection with supply wiring.
Anatomy.
- a hollow in one part that receives another part: the socket of the eye.
- the concavity of a joint: the socket of the hip.
verb (used with object)
to place in or fit with a socket.
RELATED WORDS
bag, hole, compartment, sack, niche, space, vacancy, position, groove, channel, crater, box, apartment, room, cell, bedroom, cubicle, hall, cavern, chamber
Nearby words
- sock puppet,
- sock suspender,
- sockdolager,
- sockdologer,
- sockeroo,
- socket wrench,
- sockeye,
- sockeye salmon,
- socko,
- socle
Origin of socket
1300–50; Middle English soket < Anglo-French, equivalent to Old French soc plowshare (< Gaulish *soccos; compare Welsh swch, Old Irish socc) + -et -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for socket
socket
/ (ˈsɒkɪt) /
noun
a device into which an electric plug can be inserted in order to make a connection in a circuit
mainly British such a device mounted on a wall and connected to the electricity supplyInformal Brit names: point, plug US and Canadian name: outlet
a part with an opening or hollow into which some other part, such as a pipe, probe, etc, can be fitted
a spanner head having a recess suitable to be fitted over the head of a bolt and a keyway into which a wrench can be fitted
anatomy
- a bony hollow into which a part or structure fitsa tooth socket; an eye socket
- the receptacle of a ball-and-socket joint
verb
(tr) to furnish with or place into a socket
Word Origin for socket
C13: from Anglo-Norman soket a little ploughshare, from soc, of Celtic origin; compare Cornish soch ploughshare
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
socket
c.1300, "spearhead" (originally one shaped like a plowshare), from Anglo-French soket "spearhead, plowshare" (mid-13c.), diminutive of Old French soc "plowshare," from Vulgar Latin *soccus, perhaps from a Gaulish source, from Celtic *sukko- (cf. Welsh swch "plowshare," Middle Irish soc "plowshare"), properly "hog's snout," from PIE *su- "pig" (cf. Latin sus "swine;" see sow (n.) "female pig").
Meaning "hollow part or piece for receiving and holding something" first recorded early 15c.; anatomical sense is from c.1600; domestic electrical sense first recorded 1885. Socket wrench is attested from 1837. The verb is 1530s, from the noun. Related: Socketed; socketing.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
socket
[ sŏk′ĭt ]
n.
The concave part of a joint that receives the articular end of a bone.
A hollow or concavity into which a part, such as an eye fits.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.