corner
Forms
- Plural
- corners
- present (v1)
- corner
- past (v2)
- cornered
- past participle (v3)
- cornered
- present participle
- cornering
- 3rd person singular
- corners
Definitions
1.The point where two converging lines meet; an angle, either external or internal.
- The chimney corner was full of cobwebs.
- The liquor store on the corner also sold lottery tickets.
- Herbert bruised his shin on the corner of the coffee table.
2.An edge or extremity; the part farthest from the center; hence, any quarter or part, or the direction in which it lies.
- Shining a light in the dark corners of the mind. I took a trip out to his corner of town.
- Indian English is today one of the most widespread and abundantly used varieties of English, in extensive use not only throughout South Asia but in virtually every corner of the globe.
3.A secret or secluded place; a remote or out of the way place; a nook.
- On weekends, Emily liked to find a quiet corner and curl up with a good book.
4.An embarrassing situation; a difficulty.
- Someone is hiding in the corner.
1.To trap in a position of great difficulty or hopeless embarrassment.
- The reporter cornered the politician by pointing out the hypocrisy of his position on mandatory sentencing, in light of the politician's own actions in court.
2.To put (someone) in an awkward situation.
3.To get sufficient command of (a stock, commodity, etc.), so as to be able to manipulate its price.
- It's extremely hard to corner the petroleum market because there are so many players.
- The buyers attempted to corner the shares of the railroad stock, so as to facilitate their buyout.
4.To drive (someone or something) into a corner or other confined space.
- The cat had cornered a cricket between the sofa and the television stand.
- In Juazeiro do Norte, demonstrators cornered the mayor inside a bank for hours and called for his impeachment, while thousands of others protested teachers’ salaries.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1290
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Word family
Etymology
From Middle English corner, from Anglo-Norman cornere (compare Old French cornier, corniere (“corner”)), from Old French corne (“corner, angle”, literally “a horn, projecting point”), from Vulgar Latin *corna (“horn”), from Latin cornua, plural of cornū (“projecting point, end, horn”). The sense of "angle, corner" in Old French is not found in Latin or other Romance languages. It was possibly calqued from Frankish *hurnijā (“corner, angle”), which is similar to, and derived from *hurn, the Frankish word for "horn".