Library / English Dictionary

CORK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A small float usually made of cork; attached to a fishing line

Synonyms:

bob; bobber; bobfloat; cork

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cork" is a kind of...):

float (something that floats on the surface of water)

Holonyms ("cork" is a member of...):

fishing gear; fishing rig; fishing tackle; rig; tackle (gear used in fishing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The plug in the mouth of a bottle (especially a wine bottle)

Synonyms:

bottle cork; cork

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cork" is a kind of...):

plug; stopper; stopple (blockage consisting of an object designed to fill a hole tightly)

Holonyms ("cork" is a part of...):

wine bottle (a bottle for holding wine)

Derivation:

cork (close a bottle with a cork)

corky ((of wine) tainted in flavor by a cork containing excess tannin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A port city in southern Ireland

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

city; metropolis; urban center (a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts)

port (a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country)

Holonyms ("Cork" is a part of...):

Eire; Ireland; Irish Republic; Republic of Ireland (a republic consisting of 26 of 32 counties comprising the island of Ireland; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1921)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Outer bark of the cork oak; used for stoppers for bottles etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("cork" is a kind of...):

bark (tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants)

plant material; plant substance (material derived from plants)

Derivation:

cork (close a bottle with a cork)

Sense 5

Meaning:

(botany) outer tissue of bark; a protective layer of dead cells

Synonyms:

cork; phellem

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("cork" is a kind of...):

bark (tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants)

Domain category:

botany; phytology (the branch of biology that studies plants)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stuff with cork

Example:

The baseball player stuffed his bat with cork to make it lighter

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "cork" is one way to...):

stuff (fill tightly with a material)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Close a bottle with a cork

Synonyms:

cork; cork up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cork" is one way to...):

plug; secure; stop up (fill or close tightly with or as if with a plug)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

uncork (draw the cork from (bottles))

Derivation:

cork (the plug in the mouth of a bottle (especially a wine bottle))

cork (outer bark of the cork oak; used for stoppers for bottles etc.)

corker (a machine that is used to put corks in bottles)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The bottle stood near them, two-thirds full, and beside it lay a long, deeply stained cork.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“What!” replied my aunt, pulling the cotton out of one ear like a cork.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Hove to under this short canvas, our decks were comparatively free of water, while the Ghost bobbed and ducked amongst the combers like a cork.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

If you will examine the top of the cork, you will observe that the screw was driven in three times before the cork was extracted.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Whether sea-going people were short of money about that time, or were short of faith and preferred cork jackets, I don't know; all I know is, that there was but one solitary bidding, and that was from an attorney connected with the bill-broking business, who offered two pounds in cash, and the balance in sherry, but declined to be guaranteed from drowning on any higher bargain.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But the beast in the mate was up and rampant, and Wolf Larsen was compelled to brush him away with a back-handed sweep of the arm, gentle enough, apparently, but which hurled Johansen back like a cork, driving his head against the wall with a crash.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

You will perceive, he said, that the clips are lined with tiny bands of cork to soften the pressure upon the nose.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And corked herself as before.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is a picture, and I can see it now,—the jagged edges of the hole in the side of the cabin, through which the grey fog swirled and eddied; the empty upholstered seats, littered with all the evidences of sudden flight, such as packages, hand satchels, umbrellas, and wraps; the stout gentleman who had been reading my essay, encased in cork and canvas, the magazine still in his hand, and asking me with monotonous insistence if I thought there was any danger; the red-faced man, stumping gallantly around on his artificial legs and buckling life-preservers on all comers; and finally, the screaming bedlam of women.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

When the empty bottles ran short, there were labels to be pasted on full ones, or corks to be fitted to them, or seals to be put upon the corks, or finished bottles to be packed in casks.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)