Motorcyclist Terminology
The word "cage" is also used by bikers as a derogatory alternative to "car", or any four-wheeled vehicle found on the road for that matter.

It's a reference to the agressive, "vehicle-as-a-weapon" mentality which some drivers, (or "cagers"), appear to adopt when safely behind the wheel in their protective cage.

Cage (?), n. [F. cage, fr. L. cavea cavity, cage, fr. cavus hollow. Cf. Cave, n., Cajole, Gabion.]

1.

A box or inclosure, wholly or partly of openwork, in wood or metal, used for confining birds or other animals.

In his cage, like parrot fine and gay. Cowper.

2.

A place of confinement for malefactors

Shak.

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage. Lovelace.

3. Carp.

An outer framework of timber, inclosing something within it; as the cage of a staircase.

Gwilt.

4. Mach. (a)

A skeleton frame to limit the motion of a loose piece, as a ball valve.

(b)

A wirework strainer, used in connection with pumps and pipes.

5.

The box, bucket, or inclosed platform of a lift or elevator; a cagelike structure moving in a shaft.

6. Mining

The drum on which the rope is wound in a hoisting whim.

7. Baseball

The catcher's wire mask.

 

© Webster 1913.


Cage (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Caged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Caging.]

To confine in, or as in, a cage; to shut up or confine.

"Caged and starved to death."

Cowper.

 

© Webster 1913.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.