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socket

nounverbattested in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//ˈsɒkɪt//
  • United States//ˈsɑkɪt//

Any of various concave objects (or portions of larger objects) that envelop a counterpart object. An opening into which a plug or other connecting part is designed to fit (e.g. a light bulb socket).

noun

  1. 1

    Any of various concave objects (or portions of larger objects) that envelop a counterpart object. An opening into which a plug or other connecting part is designed to fit (e.g. a light bulb socket).

    Near-synonyms: jack, outlet, receptacle, wall socket

    Each seat must have a 230V socket, a USB socket, a coat hook, reading light and cup holder.

  2. 2

    Any of various concave objects (or portions of larger objects) that envelop a counterpart object. A hollow into a bone which a part fits, such as an eye, or another bone, in the case of a joint.

  3. 3

    Any of various concave objects (or portions of larger objects) that envelop a counterpart object. The socket head for a socket wrench.

  4. 4

    Any of various concave objects (or portions of larger objects) that envelop a counterpart object. A hollow tool for grasping and lifting tools dropped in a well-boring.

  5. 5

    Any of various concave objects (or portions of larger objects) that envelop a counterpart object. The hollow of a candlestick.

    Chriſt calls his Miniſters, Lux Mundi, the light of the World, Matth. 5. 14. therefore they must be alwayes giving forth their luſtre; their light must not go out till it be in the ſocket or till violent death as an extinguisher put it out.

    The candle burned to its socket, the fire went out, the night air grew heavy with silence, before Herbert lay down.

  6. 6

    One endpoint of a two-way communication link, used for interprocess communication across a network.

  7. 7

    One endpoint of a two-way named pipe on Unix and Unix-like systems, used for interprocess communication.

  8. 8

    A steel apparatus attached to a saddle to protect the thighs and legs.

  9. 9

    slangThe vagina.

Etymology

From Middle English socket, soket, from Anglo-Norman soket (“spearhead”), diminutive of Old French soc (“plowshare”), from Vulgar Latin *soccus, a word borrowed from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *sukkos (compare modern Welsh swch (“plowshare”)), literally "pig's snout", from Proto-Indo-European *suH-.

verb

  1. 1

    To place or fit in a socket.

    Her head and trunk were carved out of, or rather into, the bole of a great red cedar. She seemed to be part of the tree itself, as if she had grown there at its heart, and the carver had only chipped away the outer wood so that you could see her. Her arms were spliced and socketed to the trunk, and were flung wide in a circling, compelling movement.

Forms

plural
sockets
past tense
socketed
past participle
socketed
present participle
socketing
third person singular
sockets
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).