corner

See also: Corner and córner

English

A corner (junction of streets) in Cork, Ireland, circa 1910

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɔɹnɚ/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɔːnə(ɹ)/
  • Hyphenation: cor‧ner
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)nə(ɹ)

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). More at hirn.

Noun

corner (plural corners)

  1. The point where two converging lines meet; an angle, either external or internal.
    The corners of the wire mesh were reinforced with little blobs of solder.
    1. The space in the angle between converging lines or walls which meet in a point.
      The chimney corner was full of cobwebs.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., [], OCLC 752825175, page 030:
        They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
    2. The projection into space of an angle in a solid object.
      Herbert bruised his shin on the corner of the coffee table.
    3. An intersection of two streets; any of the four outer points off the street at that intersection.
      The liquor store on the corner also sold lottery tickets.
  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.
    • c. 1596-1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 7:
      Why, that’s the lady: all the world desires her; / From the four corners of the earth they come, / To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint:
  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.
  5. (business, finance) A sufficient interest in a salable security or commodity to allow the cornering party to influence prices.
    In the 1970s, private investors tried to get a corner on the silver market, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
  6. (heading) Relating to the playing field.
    1. (baseball) One of the four vertices of the strike zone.
      The pitch was just off the corner, low and outside.
    2. (baseball) First base or third base.
      There are runners on the corners with just one out.
    3. (soccer) A corner kick.
    4. (American football) A cornerback.
    5. (boxing) The corner of the ring, which is where the boxer rests before and during a fight.
    6. (boxing, by extension) The group of people who assist a boxer during a bout.
  7. A place where people meet for a particular purpose.
    Welcome to our English corner.
  8. (obsolete) A point scored in a rubber at whist.
Quotations
  • 2006, Kelly K. Chappell, Effects of Concept-based Instruction on Calculus Students’ Acquisition of Conceptual Understanding and Procedural Skill, in John Dossey, Solomon Friedberg, Glenda Lappan, W. James Lewis (editorial committee), Research in Collegiate Mathematics Education VI, page 41,
    Of the students enrolled in a traditional learning environment, 65% (42 of 65) correctly answered that the function was not differentiable (or had no derivative) at .Of those, 55% (23 of 42) argued that a function did not have a derivative at a corner.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from corner
See also
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

corner (third-person singular simple present corners, present participle cornering, simple past and past participle cornered)

  1. (transitive) To drive (someone) into a corner or other confined space.
    The cat had cornered a cricket between the sofa and the television stand.
    • 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, "Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders," New York Times (retrieved 21 June 2013):
      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.
  2. (transitive) 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.
  3. (transitive) To put (someone) in an awkward situation.
  4. (finance, business, transitive) To get sufficient command of (a stock, commodity, etc.), so as to be able to manipulate its price.
    The buyers attempted to corner the shares of the railroad stock, so as to facilitate their buyout.
    It's extremely hard to corner the petroleum market because there are so many players.
  5. (automotive, transitive) To turn a corner or drive around a curve.
    As the stock car driver cornered the last turn, he lost control and spun out.
  6. (automotive, intransitive) To handle while moving around a corner in a road or otherwise turning.
    That BMW corners well, but the suspension is too stiff.
  7. (transitive) To supply with corners.
    • 1937, Mechanical World and Engineering Record (volume 102, page 208)
      Tool for cornering and cutting off copper switch blades
Translations

Catalan

Noun

corner m (plural corners)

  1. snowy mespilus (Amelanchier ovalis)

French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English corner.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔʁ.nœʁ/

Noun

corner m (plural corners)

  1. (soccer) corner kick, corner
Synonyms

Etymology 2

corne + -er

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɔʁ.ne/

Verb

corner

  1. to fold a corner of a page
  2. to blow, horn (a cornet or horn)
  3. to bellow
  4. to honk, beep (a vehicle's horn)
  5. to shout from the rooftops
Conjugation

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English corner.

Noun

corner m (plural corner)

  1. (soccer) corner
  2. (figuratively) difficult situation
  3. (economics) market niche in which a company has a monopoly

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman cornere.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɔrnər(ə)/, /ˈkɔrneːr(ə)/

Noun

corner (plural corneres)

  1. A corner or angle; an intersection of two objects where both terminate.
  2. The interior or inside of a corner.
  3. A refuge or redoubt; a location of safety.
  4. A place, especially a faraway or distant one.
  5. (rare) A overlook or viewpoint.
  6. (rare) The side of a troop or host.

Derived terms

Descendants

References


Old French

Verb

corner

  1. to blow; to horn (sound a horn)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-rns, *-rnt are modified to rz, rt. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.


Spanish

Noun

corner m (plural corneres)

  1. corner kick
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