corner
Pluralcorners
Verbcorners, cornering, cornered
Pluralcorners
Formscorners, cornering, cornered
- 1The point, area, or edge where two lines, sides, or walls meet, forming an inside angle (a room's corner) or an outside angle (a table's corner).
Dust collected in the corner where the two walls met.
He wedged the cabinet snugly into the room's far corner.
UsageUsually in the corner of a room, box, or page, but on the corner of a table or other solid object (the outside edge).
- 2The point where two streets intersect, or any of the four outer areas beside that intersection.
The pharmacy sits on the corner of two major avenues.
Protesters gathered at every corner around the square.
UsageUsually on the corner or at the corner of two streets; around the corner means very near.
Similarintersection, junction, crossroads
- 3A distant or outlying part of something, away from its center; by extension, any part or region, or the direction in which it lies.
Visitors arrived from every corner of the globe.
The four corners of the kingdom were finally united.
UsageMost often in every corner of or the four corners of a place (the world, the earth), stressing how far and wide.
Similarpart, region, quarter, area
Note
The edges of the known world live in this sense. The four corners of the earth is old enough for Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, where suitors come from them 'to kiss this shrine'. Every corner of the globe and the dark corners of the mind carry the same reach today.
- 4A secret or secluded spot; a remote, out-of-the-way place; a nook.
She discovered a quiet corner of the garden where no one ever went.
Behind the old mill he found a hidden corner of the woods where no one ever came.
UsageUsually with an adjective and of: a quiet corner of the garden, a hidden corner of the woods.
- 5In soccer, a kick from a corner of the field, awarded when a defender last touches the ball before it crosses their own goal line without a goal being scored.
The referee awarded a corner after the defender deflected the ball wide.
His inswinging corners caused problems for the goalkeeper all match.
UsageA team wins or gets a corner, a player takes it, and the referee awards it. The full form is corner kick.
Note
In soccer the ball is put back into play from the corner of the field, and the kick took the place's name.
- 6To chase or force someone or something into a corner or other enclosed space from which they cannot easily get out.
Police cornered the suspect in a dead-end alley.
Shepherds work together to corner stray sheep before nightfall.
UsageOften in the passive: be cornered by police, cornered in an alley or against a wall.
Similartrap, surround, confine
Oppositerelease
- 7Describing a business in a handy local spot, thought of as being on a street corner whether or not it actually is.
Locals rely on the corner store for everyday essentials.
A friendly corner shop anchored the neighborhood for decades.
UsageComes before another noun, most often in corner shop or corner store.
Note
The compound names a kind of shop rather than an address. A corner store is the small neighborhood shop you can walk to, whether or not it actually sits where two streets meet, so the phrase describes convenience more than geometry.
- 8Of a driver or vehicle, to go around a corner or bend, often with reference to how well the vehicle handles it.
With its low center of gravity, the little sedan corners with surprising confidence on mountain roads.
Long trucks cannot corner as tightly as small cars, so they swing wide at intersections.
UsageOften with the car as subject and no object: a car that corners well. A driver can also corner a bend.
- 9To put someone in a difficult or awkward position from which they cannot easily escape, especially to make them answer or agree.
She cornered her brother into admitting he'd broken the vase.
Skilled debaters try to corner opponents with their own words.
Usagecorner someone into doing something (admitting, saying yes), or corner someone about something.
Similartrap
- 10In American football, a defensive back who lines up wide and covers receivers, defending against passing plays.
The rookie corner broke up three passes in his debut.
Veteran corners often bait quarterbacks into risky throws.
Similarcornerback
Note
American football shortens cornerback to plain corner, so a rookie corner or a pair of veteran corners are defensive players, not places. Context does the separating. In soccer the same short word means the kick from the flag, so a reader moving between sports has to shift meanings with them.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- In American football, corner is a shortened form of cornerback. en.wiktionary.org
- The players described as corners are defensive players. en.wikipedia.org
- A soccer corner kick is taken from the corner area beside the flag. theifab.com
- 11A point where a road, track, or racing circuit turns, especially a tight turn that drivers have to take at reduced speed.
She braked hard going into the final corner and still held on to the lead.
The mountain road twists through a series of blind corners above the valley.
Note
Here the word has moved from an angle where two lines meet to a bend in a road, and it covers gentle curves as well as sharp turns. Drivers take a corner, brake into it and come out of it, and one they cannot see around is a blind corner. A car that holds the road through bends is said to corner well, which is the verb for handling a turn.
Less common meanings
- 12An embarrassing situation; a difficulty or tight spot.
When the loan fell through at the last minute, the family found itself in a tight corner.
He talked his way out of a tricky corner.
UsageUsually in a tight corner or an awkward corner; people are backed into a corner or get out of one.
Similarpredicament, fix, jam, spot, bind
- 13In boxing, the angled section of the ring where a fighter rests on a stool and receives attention from their team between rounds.
The bell rang and he trudged to his corner for a sip of water.
Red and blue corners are assigned to the two fighters before the bout.
Note
Boxing gives the ring's angles to the fighters. Each boxer has a corner, where he rests on a stool between rounds, and he goes back to his corner at the bell. The two fighters are often told apart as red corner and blue corner. The people who work there have taken the name too, as the boxer's team.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Boxers have designated corners with stools for resting between rounds. wbcboxing.com
- Boxers return to their corners when the bell ends a round. englandboxing.org
- The fighters are identified by red and blue corners. iba.sport
- The name corner extends from the location to the team assisting the boxer. en.wiktionary.org
- 14A spot where people come together for a particular purpose.
The school library has a reading corner where children gather for story time every Friday morning.
The shop created a play corner for young customers.
UsageUsually after a word naming the activity: a reading corner, a play corner.
Similarspot
- 15To take control of so much of the supply of a stock or commodity, usually by buying it up, that you can manipulate its price, as in "corner the market".
The investors quietly cornered the copper market before announcing their position.
Speculators who corner a commodity can drive its price far above the natural level.
UsageMost often in corner the market (in a product); a specific market can also be named: corner the copper market.
Similarmonopolize, dominate
Note
The active side of the trader's corner: to corner a market is to buy enough of it to dictate the price. Size is the obstacle, since a market with many players is very hard to corner.
- 16In boxing, the group of trainers and assistants who support a fighter during the bout, advising and treating them between rounds.
The champion's corner urged him to keep his guard high.
Experienced corners know when to stop a hopeless fight.
Note
The place has lent its name to the people in it: a fighter's corner is the trainers and helpers who advise and patch him up between rounds. The phrase is used as if the corner itself could speak and decide. The champion's corner urges him on, and an experienced corner may choose to stop a hopeless fight.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The boxing sense referring to a fighter's assistants extends the name of their location to the people there. en.wiktionary.org
- The fighter's corner provides coaching advice. englandboxing.org
- Corner assistants treat the fighter between rounds. en.wikipedia.org
- The fighter's corner may decide to stop the fight. en.wikipedia.org
- 17Control of so much of the supply of something, especially a stock or commodity, that the holder can set its price or keep others out.
By quietly buying up most of the cocoa in storage, the trading firm gained a corner on the market and set prices as it liked.
She seems to think she has a corner on the truth.
UsageUsually a corner on something (the market, the truth), often in denials: no one has a corner on it.
Similarcontrol
Note
Traders gave the word its sense of holding enough of a commodity to set the price, and everyday speech loosened it to exclusive possession of anything, often something abstract.
- 18In baseball, first base or third base: the two infield positions at the corners of the diamond nearest the foul lines.
The veteran can cover either corner if an infielder gets hurt.
Both corners were manned by power hitters in the lineup.
Note
Baseball's other corners lie on the diamond rather than in the strike zone. Runners on the corners means runners on first and third, and the phrase is almost always plural when it describes base runners. In the singular it names a fielding position: a veteran who can cover either corner can play first or third.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- First and third base occupy corners of the baseball diamond. en.wikipedia.org
- Runners on the corners are runners on first and third base. en.wikipedia.org
- The corner infield positions are first and third base. en.wikipedia.org
- 19In baseball, the inside or outside edge of home plate, where a well-placed pitch is hard to hit but can still be called a strike.
The umpire rang him up on a pitch that caught the low corner.
Great control pitchers live on the corners of the zone.
Note
Pitching talk measures precision at the edges of the strike zone. A pitch catches the corner or falls just off it, and a control pitcher lives on the corners, working the borderline where calls are hardest to make. Low, high, inside and outside say which of the four is meant, as in just off the corner, low and outside.
- 20To fit or provide something with corners, especially by attaching protective pieces to its edges.
The family Bible, bound in black leather and cornered with worn brass, sat on a shelf by the door.
Furniture makers who want a traditional look still corner their sea chests with brass.
- 21A warning call used by waiters and other service staff when rounding a blind corner, alerting coworkers to prevent a collision.
"Corner!" he barked, hot plates in both hands, as he turned into the dining room.
New servers are taught to shout "Corner!" at every blind turn.
- 22A small rural community or neighborhood clustered around the intersection of country roads.
- 23A person who corns food: one who cures and preserves meat or fish by salting it.
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Origin
From Middle English corner, from Anglo-Norman cornere, from Old French corne ("corner, angle," literally "a horn, projecting point"), which traces back through Vulgar Latin to Latin cornū ("projecting point, end, horn"). The "angle, corner" sense in Old French isn't found in Latin and was possibly calqued from Frankish *hurnijā ("corner, angle").
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Corner descends through Middle English corner, Anglo-Norman cornere and Old French corne, through Vulgar Latin to Latin cornū, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- The Old French angle or corner sense is absent from Latin. en.wiktionary.org
- The angle sense may have been calqued from Frankish *hurnijā, meaning corner or angle. en.wiktionary.org