CORK

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Cork mean? 

• CORK (noun)
  The noun CORK has 5 senses:

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

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

3. a port city in southern Ireland

4. the plug in the mouth of a bottle (especially a wine bottle)

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

  Familiarity information: CORK used as a noun is common.

• CORK (verb)
  The verb CORK has 2 senses:

1. close a bottle with a cork

2. stuff with cork

  Familiarity information: CORK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CORK (noun)

Sense 1

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 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

cork; phellem

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)

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:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bottle cork; cork

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 5

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bob; bobber; bobfloat; cork

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)

• CORK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cork    ... he / she / it corks   
Past simple: corked   
Past participle: corked   
-ing form: corking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Close a bottle with a cork

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cork; cork up

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Stuff with cork

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

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

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

stuff (fill tightly with a material)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

He raised the cork and examined it minutely.

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

“D’you draw their cork in return?” asked Harrison.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Time and again and countless times we watched the boat luff into the big whitecaps, lose headway, and be flung back like a cork.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I have crossed the Atlantic four times, and have been once to the East Indies, and back again, and only once; besides being in different places about home: Cork, and Lisbon, and Gibraltar.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

So nothing came of these trials, and Jo corked up her inkstand, and said in a fit of very wholesome humility...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Nonsense!” replied my aunt, and corked herself again, at one blow.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“The tip was guarded by a disk of cork which we found beside his body,” said the Inspector.

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

In his pocket was a bottle, carefully corked, empty save for a little roll of paper, which proved to be the addendum to the log.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A proprietary formulation consisting of a Phellodendron amurense (Amur cork tree) bark extract, often used in traditional Chinese medicine, with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and potential chemopreventive and antineoplastic activities.

(Phellodendron amurense Bark Extract, NCI Thesaurus)

Investigating the link between gut bacteria and biological molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) in the brain, researchers at the APC Microbiome Institute at University College Cork found that a significant number of miRNAs were changed in the brains of microbe-free mice.

(New Light on Link between Gut Bacteria, Anxiety, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)