cask

[ kask, kahsk ]

noun

1. a container made and shaped like a barrel, especially one larger and stronger, for holding liquids.
2. the quantity such a container holds:

   wine at 32 guineas a cask.

verb (used with object)

1. to place or store in a cask.

cask

/ kɑːsk /

noun

1. a strong wooden barrel used mainly to hold alcoholic drink

   a wine cask

2. any barrel
3. the quantity contained in a cask
4. a lightweight cardboard container with plastic lining and a small tap, used to hold and serve wine
5. engineering another name for flask

Other Words From

• casklike adjective
• un·cask verb (used with object)
• un·casked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cask¹

1425–75; late Middle English; back formation from casket, the -et being taken as the diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of cask¹

C15: from Spanish casco helmet, perhaps from cascar to break

Example Sentences

In one case, a damaged heap of commercial spent-fuel rods from Michigan’s Big Rock Point nuclear power plant were over-stuffed into some casks that were meant to be taken to a storage site via train.

From Salon

Eventually, vitrified low-activity waste will be disposed of on-site in stainless steel casks, and a separate melter just for high-level waste will come online to manage the most toxic waste.

From Seattle Times

A winemaker shaded his casks under its limbs, then German immigrants bought the winery and turned it into a brewery.

From Los Angeles Times

Spirits were first produced here in 2018, but whisky must be matured in casks for at least three years, so it was not until 2021 that a single malt was released.

From New York Times

She wears her power like a second skin and speaks a mid-Atlantic accent similar to the one Leigh used in “The Hudsucker Proxy,” only mellowed by casks of rare scotch and impatience with unrefined dullards.

From Salon

Related Words

• keg