socket

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 *sukko (compare modern Welsh swch (“plowshare”)), literally "pig's snout," from Proto-Indo-European *suH-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɒkɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɒkɪt

socket (plural sockets)

1. (mechanics) An opening into which a plug or other connecting part is designed to fit (e.g. a light bulb socket).

   Synonym: jack

2. (anatomy) A hollow into a bone which a part fits, such as an eye, or another bone, in the case of a joint.
3. (computing) One endpoint of a two-way communication link, used for interprocess communication across a network.
4. (computing) One endpoint of a two-way named pipe on Unix and Unix-like systems, used for interprocess communication.
5. A hollow tool for grasping and lifting tools dropped in a well-boring.
6. The hollow of a candlestick.
7. A steel apparatus attached to a saddle to protect the thighs and legs.

• WebSocket

• ball-and-socket joint

• outlet

socket (third-person singular simple present sockets, present participle socketing, simple past and past participle socketed)

1. To place or fit in a socket.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 6,

     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.

• socket in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.