cork

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɔɹk/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɔːk/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)k

From Middle English cork (“oak bark, cork”), from Middle Dutch curc (“cork (material or object)”), either from Spanish corcho (“cork (material or object)”) (also corcha or corche) or from Old Spanish alcorque (“cork sole”). Doublet of cortex.

cork (countable and uncountable, plural corks)

1. (botany, uncountable) The dead protective tissue between the bark and cambium in woody plants, with suberin deposits making it impervious to gasses and water.

   Synonym: phellem

   1. The phellem of the cork oak, used for making bottle stoppers, flotation devices, and insulation material.
      • 1908, Edwin George Pinkham, Fate's a fiddler, page 108:

        I confess my confidence was shaken by these actions, though I knew well enough that his leg was no more cork than my own

      • 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 48:

        Because cork is porous, it expands and contracts with changes in humidity.

2. A bottle stopper made from this or any other material.

   Snobs feel it's hard to call it wine with a straight face when the cork is made of plastic.

3. An angling float, also traditionally made of oak cork.
4. The cork oak, Quercus suber.

cork (third-person singular simple present corks, present participle corking, simple past and past participle corked)

1. (transitive) To seal or stop up, especially with a cork stopper.
   • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)[1]

     Arms draped on shoulders, kick-stepping in circles, they swing bottles of wine. Purpled thumbs cork the bottles. The wine leaps and jumps behind green glass.

2. (transitive) To blacken (as) with a burnt cork.
3. To leave the cork in a bottle after attempting to uncork it.
4. To fill with cork.
   1. (transitive, baseball) To tamper with (a bat) by drilling out part of the head and filling the cavity with cork or similar light, compressible material.

      He corked his bat, which was discovered when it broke, causing a controversy.

      • 2012, Kevin Neary, Leigh A. Tobin, Major League Dads:

        Apparently I used to have some good power even though I was little, but the team we were playing against thought I had corked the bat. I kid you not! They paid $200 to have the bat popped off to prove they were right.

5. (transitive, Australia) To injure through a blow; to induce a haematoma.

   The vicious tackle corked his leg.

   • 2006, Joseph N. Santamaria, The Education of Dr Joe‎^[2], page 60:

     Injuries, which seemed to be of an inconsequential nature, were often sustained, such as a sprained ankle, a dislocated phalanx, a twisted foot, a corked leg and so on.

   • 2007, Shaun A. Saunders, Navigating in the New World‎^[3], page 202:

     As he moved away again, William winced at an ache in his thigh.
     ‘Must have corked my leg when I got up,’ he thought.

   • 2008, Christopher J. Holcroft, Canyon‎^[4], page 93:

     “I′m okay. I must have corked my thigh when Bruce fell onto me. I′ll be fine.”

   • 2010, Andrew Stojanovski, Dog Ear Cafe, large print 16pt, page 191,

     Much to my relief he had only corked his leg when he had jumped.

   • 2010, Ben Cousins, Ben Cousins: My Life Story‎^[5], page 108:

     I corked my thigh late in the game, which we won, and came off.

6. (fishing) To position one's drift net just outside of another person's net, thereby intercepting and catching all the fish that would have gone into that person's net.
   • 1998, Dana Stabenow, Killing Grounds, →ISBN, page 8:

     Kate remembered then, the family fish camp a mile or so up Amartuq Creek, the very creek across the mouth of which Yuri Andreev had tried to cork Joe Anahonak not half an hour before.

   • 2003, George Lowe, Fisherman: The Strife and Times of Ronald K. Peterson of Ballard, →ISBN:

     But its soon apparent that there are more boats than fish—at least for the moment. We all drift quietly, keeping an eye out for other boats and other nets. Corking another guy's net is a screaming—bastard offense.

   • 2008, Bert Bender, Catching the Ebb: Drift-fishing for a Life in Cook Inlet, →ISBN, page 249:

     You're pissed if someone sets too close to you and especially if he sets his net right along yours, "corking" you and intercepting the fish that seem headed to your own net. I was close to this guy's outside net, but definitely not corking him.

7. (transitive) To block (a street) illegally, to allow a protest or other activity to take place without traffic.
   • 2022, Victoria A. Newsom, Lara Martin Lengel, Embodied Activisms, page 70:

     […] corking the streets is a challenge to capitalist ideologies, like skateboarding in parking lots and walkways […]

From the traversal path resembling that of a corkscrew.^[1]

cork (plural corks)

1. (snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding) An aerialist maneuver involving a rotation where the rider goes heels over head, with the board overhead.

• double cork (two such maneuvers in a single jump)
• triple cork (three such maneuvers in a single jump)
• quad cork (four such maneuvers in a single jump)

cork (third-person singular simple present corks, present participle corking, simple past and past participle corked)

1. (snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding) To perform such a maneuver.

cork (not comparable)

1. (snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding) Having the property of a head over heels rotation.

• → French: cork

• Kroc, Rock, rock

Borrowed from English cork (“corkscrew”).

• IPA^(key): /kɔʁk/

cork m (plural corks)

1. (snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding) cork (An aerialist maneuver involving a rotation where the rider goes heels over head, with the board overhead.)