🍾 A bottle stopper 🍾 To seal a bottle 🌳 Tree bark material 🎣 A fishing float

to cork

9 3.9

To seal something by closing its opening with a stopper made from tree bark

verb
/kɔrk/

: taponar

Make sure to cork the jar immediately after filling it to prevent contamination.
cork wine
cork a bottle
cork bottles of beer

It was filled with water and corked up to prevent evaporation.

Examples

I think we gotta cork it up and seal off the survivors from the fumes... until you can dig out the mid-river passage.

Daylight (1996)
I then pour the vinegar into pretty bottles and cork them.

Blog text (20)
All we have to do is cork it.

Grand Theft Auto (1977)
- Can you cork it?

Bio-Dome (1996)
I said cork it up!

Blue Hawaii (1961)
Now I'm going to cork this.

Tourist Trap (1979)
OK, so, cork with the hand corker, yeah?

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
She poured some more and corked the bottle.

Fiction book (1993)
After pouring the wine, she expertly corked the bottle to keep it fresh.
To preserve the champagne, he decided to cork it tightly after serving.

Synonyms

to seal

vsto cork

457 2.5

To close something tightly to stop air or water getting in

is about filling an opening with a plug rather than making an airtight barrier

to stopper

vsto cork

1 4.1

To close a container by putting something in its opening

refers more narrowly to blocking the opening rather than broad sealing methods

to cork up

vsto cork

4.9

Close a bottle by putting a plug into its opening

is about sealing in general, not only by inserting a plug

to bung

vsto cork

9.3

To close a container by putting a plug in its opening

is focused on using that plug method rather than any sealing way

to stopple

vsto cork

Archaic

9.9

To close a bottle or jar with a small plug

means sealing by filling the opening, not by layering or adhesives

Antonyms

to uncork

5 3.7

To take the stopper out of a bottle so you can pour the drink

Phrasal Verbs

to cork up

4.9

Close a bottle by putting a plug into its opening

Compounds

bottle cork

1.5

A small plug that closes the top of a bottle, often for wine

Chinese cork oak

7.2

A medium to large tree from China, Japan, and Korea with thick corky bark

cork gun

5.7

A toy pistol or rifle that shoots corks

cork jacket

Archaic

8.4

A sleeveless jacket made of cork that helps you float in water

cork oak

7.7

An evergreen oak tree with thick bark used to make cork

cork tree

Australian

8.3

A prickly Australian tree with soft spongy wood used in some crafts

cork tree

7.2

A tree with thick rough bark like cork that is often grown for its bark or look

How Sealed

to seal

457 2.5

to cork

9 3.9

to stopper

1 4.1

plug

50 1.5

to cover

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

cork infinitive

corked past

corked past participle

corking present participle

corks third person singular

Etymology

The verb cork comes from an old Latin word cortex meaning 'bark', and it originally meant to close or seal with that bark, so to cork a bottle is to stop it with a cork plug.