cache

[ kash ]

noun

1. a hiding place, especially one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.:

   She hid her jewelry in a little cache in the cellar.

2. anything so hidden:

   The enemy never found our cache of food.

   Synonyms: store, reserve, stockpile, hoard

3. Also called cache storage. Computers. a temporary storage space or memory that allows fast access to data:

   Web browser cache;

   CPU cache.

4. Alaska and Northern Canada. a small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food, equipment, etc.

verb (used with object)

, cached, cach·ing.

1. to put in a cache; conceal; hide.

   Synonyms: secrete

cache

/ kæʃ /

noun

1. a hidden store of provisions, weapons, treasure, etc
2. the place where such a store is hidden
3. computing a small high-speed memory that improves computer performance

verb

1. tr to store in a cache

cache

/ kăsh /

1. An area of computer memory devoted to the high-speed retrieval of frequently used or requested data.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cache¹

First recorded in 1585–95; from French, noun derivative of cacher “to hide,” from unattested Vulgar Latin coācticāre “to stow away,” originally, “to pack together,” frequentative of Latin coāctāre, equivalent to Latin coāct(us) “collected” (past participle of cōgere “to collect, compel”) + -icā- formative verb suffix + -re infinitive ending

Word History and Origins

Origin of cache¹

C19: from French, from cacher to hide

Example Sentences

Lili Anolik turns a cache of letters between Joan Didion and Eve Babitz into a book about the unlikely friendship between two seminal L.A. writers before they went their separate ways.

From Los Angeles Times

Thus began Anolik’s trip back into Babitz’s past via a large cache of correspondence that revealed, among other things, her sometimes convivial, often fraught relationship with Joan Didion when the writer, who was nine years older, was the queen bee of L.A.’s lit scene and a key figure in Babitz’s creative life.

From Los Angeles Times

What began as an investigation into the illegal sale of a single military-grade laser sight turned into the arrest of an Orange County man for possession of a cache of weapons of war and sexually explicit child content.

From Los Angeles Times

Once again, California — despite it wielding by far the largest cache of electoral votes in the nation — kept its record intact of never having sent a Democrat to the White House.

From Los Angeles Times

Police had seized a cache of illegal weapons from Ryan Twyman’s home weeks before deputies cornered him in a car in Willowbrook, authorities said.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hideout
• hoard
• nest egg
• repository
• stash
• stockpile
• storehouse
• treasure
• wealth