socket

Etymology

From Middle English socket, soket, from Anglo-Norman soket (“spearhead”), diminutive of Old French soc (“plowshare”), from Vulgar Latin *soccus, a word borrowed from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *sukkos (compare modern Welsh swch (“plowshare”)), literally "pig's snout", from Proto-Indo-European *suH-.

noun

1. (mechanics) An opening into which a plug or other connecting part is designed to fit (e.g. a light bulb socket).
   Each seat must have a 230V socket, a USB socket, a coat hook, reading light and cup holder. December 29 2021, “Network News: HS2 rolling stock”, in RAIL, number 947, page 7
2. (anatomy) A hollow into a bone which a part fits, such as an eye, or another bone, in the case of a joint.
3. (computing) One endpoint of a two-way communication link, used for interprocess communication across a network.
4. (computing) One endpoint of a two-way named pipe on Unix and Unix-like systems, used for interprocess communication.
5. A hollow tool for grasping and lifting tools dropped in a well-boring.
6. The hollow of a candlestick.
   Chriſt calls his Miniſters, Lux Mundi, the light of the World, Matth. 5. 14. therefore they must be alwayes giving forth their luſtre; their light must not go out till it be in the ſocket or till violent death as an extinguisher put it out. 1671, Thomas Watson, The Beatitudes, page 8
   The candle burned to its socket, the fire went out, the night air grew heavy with silence, before Herbert lay down. 1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XXXIII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 336
7. A steel apparatus attached to a saddle to protect the thighs and legs.

verb

1. To place or fit in a socket.
   Her head and trunk were carved out of, or rather into, the bole of a great red cedar. She seemed to be part of the tree itself, as if she had grown there at its heart, and the carver had only chipped away the outer wood so that you could see her. Her arms were spliced and socketed to the trunk, and were flung wide in a circling, compelling movement. 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 6, in Klee Wyck