cassette

[ kuh-set, ka- ]

noun

1. Also called cassette tape. a compact case containing a length of magnetic tape that runs between two small reels: used for recording or playback of audio or video in a tape recorder, cassette deck, video camera, or VCR, and for storage of data by some small computer systems. audiocassette, videocassette.
2. Photography. a lightproof metal or plastic container for a roll of film, having a single spool for supplying and rewinding the film.
3. a replaceable or refillable cartridge in a typewriter or printer that contains the ribbon or ink.
4. a case or tray in a printer or copier that holds the paper.

cassette

/ kæˈsɛt /

noun

1. 1. a plastic container for magnetic tape, as one inserted into a tape deck
   2. ( as modifier )

      a cassette recorder

2. photog another term for cartridge
3. films a container for film used to facilitate the loading of a camera or projector, esp when the film is used in the form of a loop
4. the injection of genes from one species into the fertilized egg of another species

Word History and Origins

Origin of cassette¹

1955–60; < French, equivalent to casse “box” ( case ² ) + -ette -ette

Word History and Origins

Origin of cassette¹

C18: from French: little box; see case ²

Example Sentences

I absorbed their sorrow in the wistful Vietnamese ballads my parents played on their cassette tapes and their anguish in the stories my relatives shared about their childhood homes I never saw.

From Time

Gone are the days of books on cassettes that were sold in big, cumbersome bricks of 10 or more tapes.

From Popular-Science

Why we would ever want to go back to torturing our bodies by carrying plastic cartridges that play music is beyond me, but we certainly are—2020 saw an increase in cassette sales of 103 percent compared to the previous year.

From Popular-Science

I would rewind the cassette over and over, manically running around my room, yelling and doing ferocious dunks on my Fisher Price four-foot plastic hoop.

From Time

One system is called Yoto, but it’s got much more in common with a cassette player than a smart speaker.

From MIT Technology Review

As a result, prisoners collect, collate, trade and secretly alter cassette tapes of their desired sounds, which are rap and R&B.

From The Daily Beast

Cassette tapes, specifically finding them, are also a challenge.

From The Daily Beast

Halford, absent from court all morning, arrives late in the afternoon with a large, black double-deck and a cassette.

From The Daily Beast

During the ride, Jai Johany plays lacy Afro jazz on a cassette machine, frowning, saying nothing.

From The Daily Beast

Growing up in the 1990s, I watched Free to Be on VHS and listened to the songs on a cassette tape over and over again.

From The Daily Beast

Monsieur Cassette had not sold another such cane during the last two years.

From Project Gutenberg

The theft of the cassette, however, was a transaction which his enemies never suffered to be forgotten.

From Project Gutenberg

The cassette of St. Joseph, wherein were deposited the oboli for the poor, had long been emptied.

From Project Gutenberg

II rencontra la Relique prs de Sens; elle toit enferme dans une triple cassette.

From Project Gutenberg

It had supplied each of them with a small box, cassette, containing a few articles of clothing.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• tape