Cage (pronounced keyj)
(1) A boxlike enclosure having wires, bars, or the like,
for confining and displaying birds or animals or as a protective barrier for objects
or people in vulnerable positions (used in specific instances as battery cage, bird-cage,
birdcage, Faraday cage, tiger cage, fish cage etc).
(2) Anything that confines or imprisons; prison and figuratively,
something which hinders physical or creative freedom (often as “caged-in”).
(3) The car or enclosed platform of an elevator.
(4) In underground mining, (1) an enclosed platform for
raising and lowering people and cars in a mine shaft & (2) the drum on
which cable is wound in a hoisting whim.
(5) A general descriptor for any skeleton-like framework.
(6) In baseball (1) a movable backstop for use mainly in
batting practice & (2) the catcher's wire mask.
(7) In ice hockey and field hockey, a frame with a net
attached to it, forming the goal.
(8) In basketball, the basket (mostly archaic).
(9) In various sports which involve putting a ball or
other object into or through a receptacle (net, hole), to score a goal or
something equivalent.
(10) In fashion, a loose, sheer or lacy overdress worn
with a slip or a close-fitting dress.
(11) In ordnance, a steel framework for supporting guns.
(12) In engineering (1) various forms of retainers, (2) a
skeleton ring device which ensures the correct space is maintained between the
individual rollers or balls in a rolling bearing & (3) the wirework
strainers used to remove solid obstacles in the fluids passing through pumps
and pipes
(13) To put (something or someone) into some form of
confinement (which need not literally be in a cage).
(14) In underwear design, as cage bra, a design which
uses exposed straps as a feature.
(15) In computer hardware, as card cage, the area of a
system board where slots are provided for plug-in cards (expansion boards).
(16) In anatomy (including in zoology) as rib-cage, the
arrangement of the ribs as a protective enclosure for vital organs.
(17) In athletics, the area from which competitors throw
a discus or hammer.
(18) In graph theory, a regular graph that has as few
vertices as possible for its girth.
(19) In killer Sudoku puzzles, an irregularly-shaped
group of cells that must contain a set of unique digits adding up to a certain
total, in addition to the usual constraints of Sudoku.
(20) In aviation, to immobilize an artificial horizon.
1175–1225: From the Middle English cage (and the earlier forms kage
& gage), from the Old French cage (prison; retreat, hideout), from the
Latin cavea (hollow place, enclosure
for animals, coop, hive, stall, dungeon, spectators' seats in a theatre), the
construct being cav(us) (hollow) + -ea, the feminine of -eus (the
adjectival suffix); a doublet of cadge and related to jail. The Latin cavea
was the source also of the Italian gabbia (basket for fowls, coop). Cage is a noun, verb and (occasional)
adjective, caged & caging are verbs (used with object) and constructions
include cage-less, cage-like, re-cage; the noun plural is cages.
The noun (box-like receptacle or enclosure, with open spaces, made of wires, reeds etc) typically described the barred-boxes used for confining domesticated birds or wild beasts was the first form and form circa 1300 was used in English to describe "a cage for prisoners, jail, prison, a cell". The noun bird-cage (also birdcage) was in the late fifteenth century formed to describe a "portable enclosure for birds", as distinct from the static cages which came to be called aviaries. The idiomatic use as “gilded cage” refers to a place (and, by extension, a situation) which is superficially attractive but nevertheless restrictive (a luxurious trap) and appears to have been coined by the writers of the popular song A Bird in a Gilded Cage (1900). To “rattle someone's cage” is to upset or anger them, based on the reaction from imprisoned creatures (human & animal) to the noise made by shaking their cages. The verb (to confine in a cage, to shut up or confine) dates from the 1570s and was derived from the noun. The synonyms for the verb include crate, enclosure, jail, pen, coop up, corral, fold, mew, pinfold, pound, confine, enclose, envelop, hem, immure, impound, imprison, incarcerate, restrain & close-in.
Wholly unrelated to cage was the adjective cagey (the frequently used derived terms being cagily & caginess), a US colloquial form meaning “evasive, reticent”, said to date from 1896 (although there had in late sixteenth century English been an earlier cagey which was a synonym of sportive (from sport and meaning “frolicsome”)). The origin of the US creation (the sense of which has expanded to “wary, careful, shrewd; uncommunicative, unwilling or hesitant to give information”) is unknown and despite the late nineteenth century use having been attested, adoption must have been sufficiently hesitant not to tempt lexicographers on either side of the Atlantic because cagey appears in neither the 1928 Webster’s Dictionary nor the 1933 supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
John Cage (1912–1992) was a US avant-garde composer who, inter alia, was one of the pioneers in the use of electronic equipment to create music. He’s also noted for the 1952 work 4′33″ which is often thought a period of literal silence for a duration of that length but is actually designed to be enjoyed as the experience of whatever sounds emerge from the environment (the space, the non-performing musicians and the audience). It was an interesting idea which explored both the definitional nature of silence and paralleled twentieth century exercises in pop-art in prompting discussions about just what could be called music.
The related forms jail and goal are of interest. Jail as a noun dates from circa 1300
(although it had by then been used as a surname for at least a hundred years) and
meant "a prison; a birdcage".
It was from the Middle English jaile,
from the Old French jaiole (a cage; a
prison), from the Medieval Latin gabiola
(a cage (and the source also of the Spanish gayola
and the Italian gabbiula)), from the Late
Latin caveola, a diminutive of the Latin
cavea. The spellings gaile & gaiole were
actually more frequent forms in Middle English, these from the Old French gaiole (a cage; a prison), a variant
spelling thought prevalent in the Old North French, which would have been the language
most familiar to Norman scribes, hence the eventual emergence of goal which
emerged under that influence. It’s long been
pronounced jail and the persistence
of gaol as the preferred form in the UK is attributed to the continued use in
statutes and other official documents although there may also have been some
reluctance to adopt “jail” because this had come to be regarded as an Americanism.
The cage bra
A cage bra is built with a harness-like structure which (vaguely) resembles a cage, encapsulating the breasts using one or more straps. Few actually use the straps predominately to enhance support and the effect tends to be purely aesthetic, some cage bras with minimal (or even absent) cup coverage and a thin band or multi-strap back. Designed to be seen, cage bras can be worn under sheer fabrics, with clothes cut to reveal the construction or indeed worn alone, the effect one borrowed from engineering or architecture where components once concealed (air conditioning ducting, plumbing, electrical conduits etc) are deliberately exposed. It’s thus a complete reversal of the old rule in which the sight of a bra strap was a fashion-fail. The idea has even been extended to sports bras which actually have long often used additional, thick straps to enhance support and minimize movement, especially those induced by lateral forces not usually encountered. The cage bra's salient features include:
(1) The straps are a cage’s most distinctive feature. The most simple include only a single additional strap across the centre while others have a pair, usually defining the upper pole of each cup. Beyond that, multiple straps can be used, both at the front and back, some of which may have some functional purpose or be merely decorative. Single strap cage bras are often worn to add distinctiveness to camisoles while those with multiple straps are referred to as the harness style and have the additional benefit (or drawback depending on one’s view) of offering more frontal coverage, the straps sometimes a framework for lace or other detailing; this is a popular approach taken with cage bralettes.
Front and back views of modestly-styled criss-cross cage bras.
(2) Many cage bras are constructed around a traditional back band, especially those which need to provide lift & support while those (usually with smaller cups) have a thin band (merely for location) or none at all. In this acknowledgement of the laws of physics, they’re like any other bra. Those with a conventional back band (both bras and bralettes) are often constructed as the V-shaped cage, the symmetrical straps well suited to v-necks or even square necks and paired with cardigans or more structured jackets or blazers, they’re currently the segment's best-sellers. A more dramatic look is the criss-cross cage but fashionistas caution this works well only in minimal surroundings so accessories should be limited to earrings or stuff worn on the wrist or beyond.
(3) As a general principle, the cage bras manufactured tend to be those with cup sizes in the smaller range, reflecting the anticipated demand curve. However, even the nominal size (A, B C etc) of the cups of cage bras can be misleading because they almost always have less coverage than all but the most minimal of those used by conventional bras and should be compared with a demi cup or the three-quarter style of plunge bras. That said, there are strappy designs which include molded cups with underwires suitable for larger sizes but it’s a niche market and the range is limited, the scope for flourishes being limited by the need to preserve functionality, a demand which, all else being equal, tends to increase with as mass grows.
Examples of designs used to fabricate harness cage bras which can be worn under or over clothing or, in some cases, to augment a more conventional bra or bralette.
(4) Despite the specialized nature of cage bras, some are multi-purpose and include padding with all the usual advantages in concealment and additional volume, permitting use as an everyday garment rather than one used exclusively for display. Some include removable padding so the bra can be transformed into a see-through design.
(5) The methods of closure type vary. The most uncompromising designs actually have no closure mechanism; the idea being one would detract from the purity of the lines so this requires the wearer to pull it over the head. Other types use both front and back closures, usually with conventional hook & clasp fittings (so standard-sized extenders can sometimes be used) but there are some which borrow overtly from the traditions of BDSM underwear (the origin of the cage bra motif) and use extravagantly obvious buckles and even the occasional key-lock. The BDSM look is most obviously executed in the choker cage bra which includes a neck choker as a focal point to accentuate the neck and torso, something best suited to a long, slender neck. Buyers are are advised to move around when trying these on because the origins of the BDSM motif lay in devices used in Medieval torture routines so a comfortable fit is important.
Cage bralette.
(6) Almost all cage bras continue to use the same materials as conventional garments, the fabrics of choice being nylon or spandex, their elasticity permitting some adjustments to accommodate variations in shape or location. Sometimes augmented with lace, fabric, mesh or metal rings, straps can also be made from leather.
(7) Ricki-Lee Coulter in illusion dress, March 2022.
Although usually worn under or over clothing, the cage bra concept can be integrated and the gaps inherent in the use of straps mean the style is ideal for illusion clothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment