cork

The lightweight elastic outer bark of the cork oak, used especially for bottle closures, insulation, floats, and crafts.

1. Something made of cork, especially a bottle stopper.

2. A bottle stopper made of other material, such as plastic.

A small float used on a fishing line or net to buoy up the line or net or to indicate when a fish bites.

Botany A nonliving, water-resistant protective tissue that is formed on the outside of the cork cambium in the woody stems and roots of many seed plants. Also called phellem.

To stop or seal with or as if with a cork.

To restrain or check; hold back: tried to cork my anger.

To blacken with burnt cork.

The outermost layer of tissue in woody plants that is resistant to the passage of water vapor and gases and that becomes the bark. Cork is secondary tissue, formed on the outside of the tissue layer known as cork cambium. The cell walls of cork cells contain suberin. Once they mature, cork cells die. Also called phellem.

The lightweight, elastic outer bark of the cork oak, which grows near the Mediterranean Sea. Cork is used for bottle stoppers, insulation, and other products.