cage

plural cages · alternative kage

1. An enclosure made of spaced bars, normally to hold animals while providing some ventilation.

   We keep a bird in a cage.

   4 more examples

   The tigers are in a cage to protect the public.

   The most dangerous prisoners are locked away in a cage.

   For his father had / never a house but the cage.

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], lines 48–49

   Stone walls do not a prison make, / Nor iron bars a cage.

   1642, Richard Lovelace, To Althea, from Prison, stanza 4, lines 1–2

2. The passenger compartment of a lift.
3. field hockey or ice hockey; water polo; field hockey or ice hockey; water poloThe goal.
4. abbreviationShort for roll cage, a protective structure around the passenger compartment of a vehicle.
5. USbroadlyslangSynonym of automobile.

   Synonyms: automobile

6. figurativelySomething that hinders freedom.

   My body is a cage / That keeps me from dancing with the one I love / But my mind holds the key

   2007, Jeremy Gara, Régine Chassagne, “My Body Is a Cage”, in Neon Bible, performed by Arcade Fire

   1 more example

   Schwartz examines with dignity and tenderness the battles within and without of […] families, created and biological, and the cages and freedom they can provide.

   1989 December 17, Nan Donald, “Broken Hearts, Messed Up Families, And New Beginnings”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 9

7. slangA prison or prison cell.

   The 'out of the closet' lesbians and gay men here in the Iowa Cages are harassed and discriminated daily by oppressive pigs, believe me, I know, as a lesbian I've experienced it first hand and seen my fellow lesbian and gay friends oppressed to where I'm ready to explode.

   1985 December 14, Robyn Shawnee Jackson, “Kouuntry And Kitten”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 22, page 4

8. athleticsThe area from which competitors throw a discus or hammer.
9. An outer framework of timber, enclosing something within it.

   Cage, in carpentry, is an outer work of timber inclosing another within it. Thus the cage of a stair is the wooden inclosure that encircles it.

   1842, Joseph Gwilt, “A Glossary of Terms Used by Architects”, in An Encyclopædia of Architecture, Historical, Theoretical, and Practical, 2nd edition, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1851, page 941

10. engineeringA skeleton frame to limit the motion of a loose piece, such as a ball valve.
11. A wirework strainer, used in connection with pumps and pipes.
12. businessThe drum on which the rope is wound in a hoisting whim.
13. ball gamesThe protective wire mask at the front of a helmet.
14. graph theoryA regular graph that has as few vertices as possible for its girth.
15. killer sudokuIn killer sudoku puzzles, a group of connecting cells that must contain a set of unique digits adding up to a certain total, in addition to the usual constraints of sudoku.

present singular third person cages · participle present caging · participle past caged · past caged · alternative kage

1. transitiveTo confine in a cage; to put into and keep in a cage.

   The industrial practice of caging commercial laying hens has given caged housing a bad narne.

   2010, Gail Damerow, Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, 3rd Edition, →ISBN

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   And the row of human captors, ever leering, They who caged me, Know their power and gloat on my captivity.

   1923, Animal World: An Advocate of Humanity, page 33

   Laying out the zoo on horseback, he went about making plans to combine his scrubby mesas and canyons with moats, and thereby eliminate caging many large animals—a revolutionary advance in American zoo design.

   2000, Bernard Livingston, Zoo: Animals, People, Places, →ISBN, page 95

   Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.

   2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4

   By caging chickens, farmers broke the cycle and had to busy themselves with feeding, cleaning and pest control activities.

   2018, Stomu Yamash’ta, Tadashi Yagi, Stephen Hill, The Kyoto Manifesto for Global Economics, →ISBN

2. slangtransitiveTo imprison.

   The serial killer was caged for life.

3. figurativelytransitiveTo restrict someone's movement or creativity.
4. aeronauticsTo immobilize an artificial horizon.

   To prevent damage to its gimbal mountings during extreme aerobatic maneuvers, the navball should be caged before the start of a display sequence.

5. To track individual responses to direct mail, either (advertising) to maintain and develop mailing lists or (politics) to identify people who are not eligible to vote because they do not reside at the registered addresses.

1. A surname from French.