Noun
the dogs and cats at the animal shelter looked so sad in their cagesVerbcaged the rabbit at night so she wouldn't wake everyone up
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Noun
And loyalty became a gilded cage.βπ Image Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2026 In our modern egg factories, most laying hens live in cages that measure just under eight inches on a side.βπ Image Jeffrey Steingarten, Vogue, 5 Apr. 2026
Verb
Some of these sows are basically caged for the majority of their breeding life β years β and are about the size of a black bear.βπ Image Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2026 Staking, trellising, and caging are different training methods used to support tomato plants and their heavy fruit loads.βπ Image Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 9 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for cage
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French, going back to Latin cavea "enclosure for poultry, cage, auditorium of a theater," of uncertain origin
Note:
Latin cavea is usually taken to be a noun derivative of an unattested adjective *caveus, from cavus "hollow, concave" (see cave entry 1, hole entry 1), the sense "something hollow, cavity" being extended to "enclosed space" and then "enclosure"; however, -eus is normally a denominal suffix meaning "made of" (see -eous), so that the resulting sense of the derivative is not clear. Perhaps of relevance is the suffix of alveus "trough, hull, channel" (see alveolus).
