cache

/kæʃ/

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: caches · caching · cached

Sense 1

Meaning · English

A store, protected and often hidden in some way, of things that may be required in the future, such that they can be retrieved rapidly. — Such a store of physical supplies, placed by humans or other animals for practical reasons.

Noun

Examples

Near-synonym: stash

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Sense 2

Meaning · English

A store, protected and often hidden in some way, of things that may be required in the future, such that they can be retrieved rapidly. — A fast temporary storage where recently or frequently used information is stored to avoid having to reload it from a slower storage medium.

Noun

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Sense 3

Meaning · English

To place in a cache.

Verb

Examples

And here the adventurers went ashore, unloaded, turned their canoe bottom up in the shelter of thick brush, and cached their supplies temporarily on a pole scaffold, out of reach of prowling depredators.

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Sense 4

Meaning · English

To store data in a cache.

Verb

Examples

In this case, it would not be ideal to use the full-page caching that the per-site or per-view cache strategies offer, because you wouldn't want to cache the entire result (since some of the data changes often), but you'd still want to cache the results that rarely change.

Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01)

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-08-01 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “cache” mean?

A store, protected and often hidden in some way, of things that may be required in the future, such that they can be retrieved rapidly. — Such a store of physical supplies, placed by humans or other animals for practical reasons.

Is “cache” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.