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A city of southern Ireland near the head of Cork Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Cork was occupied by the Danes in the ninth century and by Oliver Cromwell in 1649. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
cork  (kôrk)
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Tweet n. 1. The lightweight elastic outer bark of the cork oak, used especially for bottle closures, insulation, floats, and crafts. 2. a. Something made of cork, especially a bottle stopper. b. A bottle stopper made of other material, such as plastic. 3. A small float used on a fishing line or net to buoy up the line or net or to indicate when a fish bites. 4. Botany A nonliving, water-resistant protective tissue that is formed on the outside of the cork cambium in the woody stems and roots of many seed plants. Also called phellem. tr.v. corked, cork·ing, corks 1. To stop or seal with or as if with a cork. 2. To restrain or check; hold back: tried to cork my anger. 3. To blacken with burnt cork. [Middle English corke, cork, cork-soled shoe, probably ultimately from Arabic dialectal qurq, perhaps (via Berber) from Latin cortex, cortic-, bark; see CORTEX.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
