cache

noun

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\ ˈkash

Definition of cache

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : a hiding place especially for concealing and preserving provisions or implements

b : a secure place of storage discovered a cache of weapons

2 : something hidden or stored in a cache The cache consisted of documents and private letters.

3 : a computer memory with very short access time used for storage of frequently or recently used instructions or data

— called also cache memory

cache

verb

cached; caching

Definition of cache (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to place (something) in a cache: such as

a : to place or store (something) in a hidden or secure place for safety or concealment cache camp supplies by a lake coins cached in a teapot

b computers : to place (instructions or data) in cache memory for temporary storage caching websites to speed up future retrieval

Synonyms Cash and Cache More Example Sentences Learn More About cache

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Cash and Cache

Cache and cash are homophones (words that are pronounced alike but have different meanings, origins, or spelling) whose likeness in sound may lead to perplexity.

Cache primarily refers to a thing that is hidden or stored somewhere, or to the place where it is hidden. It has recently taken on another common meaning, “short-term computer memory where information is stored for easy retrieval.” Cash, on the other hand, is most often used in the sense “ready money.”

If you find yourself confused by these words, remember that you can store cash in a cache, but you can't do the reverse. Be mindful, too, that if you run out of cash you won't be able to buy something, but if you're short on cache, your computer won’t work.

Examples of cache in a Sentence

Noun a weapons cache used by terrorists Police found a cache of stolen cars in the woods. Her new laptop has one megabyte of cache. Verb an eccentric who cached money in odd places, such as under the boards of the floor cached the fugitive slaves in their cellar until they could make their way to Canada

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Like a cache of nitroglycerin blasting through a mine? — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 12 June 2021 The 10th generation Intel Core i9-10980HK offered 8 cores and a 16MB cache, and is ready to overclock directly from the Alienware Command Center desktop software. — Dave Johnson, Forbes, 10 June 2021 Rerouted to a cache on Fastly’s edge server in San Jose, the same request will take just 10 milliseconds. — Samanth Subramanian, Quartz, 8 June 2021 The earliest mention of hydroxychloroquine in the cache of emails dates to Feb. 24, 2020, when Fauci responded to an inquiry about using the drug to treat COVID-19. — Daniel Funke, USA TODAY, 5 June 2021 Placing a large cache directly adjacent to the CPU can have significant performance advantages. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 1 June 2021 The money adds to a small cache raised by conservation groups and park supporters, who had been seeking a much larger sum to fully restore the popular site. — Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 May 2021 By that, Helbing is obviously referring to the cache of X-Kryptonite buried in Smallvile, which gave Tag powers after Jordan's heat vision went off in the pilot and is the reason Morgan Edge has taken such a keen interest in the town. — Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 14 May 2021 The latest search warrant was served at the family’s home May 5, the same day a Superior Court judge issued an order that forced Millete’s husband, Larry, to surrender a cache of guns and ammunition. — San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 June 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The rover will cache soil samples for eventual return to Earth by a series of retrieval missions carried out jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency. — Robert Lee Hotz, WSJ, 19 Apr. 2021 His followers should cache weapons, ammunition, hydrogen peroxide, kitchen matches. — Dana Goodyear, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2021 Even more significant, Perseverance will cache the most intriguing Mars samples so that they can eventually be collected and brought back to Earth as early as 2031. — Popular Science, 7 Jan. 2021 These middens are where the Mount Graham red squirrels cache their cones. — Anton L. Delgado, The Arizona Republic, 2 Nov. 2020 Wolves also will cache parts of a kill to eat later. — Star Tribune, 24 Oct. 2020 Perseverance has a sophisticated system to collect samples, cache them and stow them on the Martian surface. — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 1 Aug. 2020 The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. — Nathan Baird, cleveland, 25 Feb. 2020 The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. — Mike Cason, al, 12 Feb. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cache.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for cache

Noun

borrowed from North American French, from French, "hiding place," noun derivative of cacher "to hide, conceal," going back to Old French cachier, quaichier "to put away, lock up, cover, remove from view, conceal" (also Middle French cacher "to press, crush"), going back to Vulgar Latin *coācticāre "to press, constrict," from Latin coāctāre "to compel" (frequentative of cōgere "to drive together, collect, compress, compel") + -icāre, verb formative — more at cogent

Note: The etymological sense "to compress, constrict" is not attested for the Old French verb, though it likely existed and is apparent in the prefixed form escachier "to crush and flatten, break by pressing or falling on." From the sense "compress" presumably developed the senses "lock up, cover, put away," and hence "remove from view, conceal," common from the sixteenth century. The sense "to press, crush" is marginally evident in Middle French in areas in contact with Occitan, though it penetrated widely enough to form the basis for the derivative cachet "seal" (see cachet).

Verb

verbal derivative of cache entry 1

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