garage

Etymology

Borrowed from French garage (“keeping under cover, protection, shelter”), derivative of French garer (“to keep under cover, dock, shunt, guard, keep”), from Middle French garer, garrer, guerrer; partly from Old French garir, warir (from Old Frankish *warjan); and partly from Old French varer (“to fight, defend oneself, protect”), from Old Norse varask (“to defend oneself”), reflexive of vara (“to ware, watch out, defend”); both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, ward off”), *warōną (“to watch, protect”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, save, defend”).

noun

1. A building (or section of a building) used to store a car or cars, tools and other miscellaneous items.
   A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard. 1931, Francis Beeding, “2/2”, in Death Walks in Eastrepps
2. (chiefly Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and dated, 20th century, in Canada, US) A place where cars are serviced and repaired.
   The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess
   (North America)
3. (chiefly Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) A petrol filling station.
   (Britain, Ireland, Australia)
   (North America)
4. (aviation) A shed for housing an airship or aeroplane or a launchable missile; a hangar.
5. A side way or space in a canal to enable vessels to pass each other; a siding.
6. (attributive, music) A type of guitar rock music, personified by amateur bands playing in the basement or garage; garage rock.
7. (Britain, music) A type of electronic dance music related to house music, with warped and time-stretched sounds; UK garage.

verb

1. To store in a garage.
   We garaged the convertible during the monsoon months.