[f. the sb.]
1. trans. To furnish with corners, give corners to. (Chiefly in pa. pple.)
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 305. Þe ilond Corsica is cornered wiþ many forlondes, schetynge in to the see.
a. 1674. Milton, Hist. Mosc., iii. (1851), 487. The Imperial City … built of white stone four square … corner’d with four white Towers.
1838. Fraser’s Mag., XVIII. 181. Its walls … are whitewashed, and cornered with stone.
1864. R. A. Arnold, Cotton Famine, 26. Sometimes it [a cotton mill] is cornered with pilasters.
b. To corner off: to finish off with corners, to bring to a square. (Cf. round off.)
1853. Hickie, trans. Aristoph. (1872), II. 581. The cornering-off of verses.
2. To place or set in a corner.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 179. Þe citee … is cornered wiþynne þe clippynge of þe walles faste by þe see side.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., VIII. 45. A decent domicile Cornered in snug Condotti. Ibid. (1873), Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 149. Cornered in the cosiest nook of all.
1888. Times (weekly ed.), 7 Dec., 7/4. A really clever work may be ‘skied’ or ‘cornered’ simply because it chances to fit a vacant space.
3. To drive into a corner; to force into an awkward or desperate position; to put in a ‘tight place’; to bring to bay. (App. of U.S. origin.)
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), II. xlii. 67. Their enemy, who had cornered them up in such a way that there was no other possible mode for their escape.
1851. Hawthorne, Ho. Sev. Gables, v. 92. A recluse, like Hepzibah, usually displays remarkable frankness … on being absolutely cornered, and brought to the point of personal intercourse.
1866. Cornh. Mag., Dec., 740. The horses … bolt about the yard … and are only cornered with the help of numbers and forced to submit.
1884. E. P. Roe, Nat. Ser. Story, x. in Harper’s Mag., Sept., 548/2. A rat will fight a man if cornered.
b. fig. To put into a position of difficulty or embarrassment. colloq. (Chiefly U.S.)
1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, Poet. Wks. (Moxon), 345. Although there are few so Outrageously cornered by fate as poor Crusoe.
1867. O. W. Holmes, Guard. Angel, II. i. 21. Clement was cornered. It was necessary to say something.
1868. E. Yates, Rock Ahead, III. iii. He felt that he was morally ‘cornered.’
1881. ‘Mark Twain,’ Prince & Pauper, vi. 57. Once the little Lady Jane turned to Tom and cornered him with this question.
4. Comm. To operate against (a particular stock or commodity, or the dealers in it) by means of a CORNER (14); to bring under the control of a ‘corner.’ (Of U.S. origin.)
The sense-development was (1) to corner the speculative sellers of a given stock; (2) to corner the stock or commodity: (3) to corner the Exchange, or market.
1857. Hunt’s Merch. Mag., (N. Y.), July, XXXVII. 135. The managers of the stock cornered.
1860. in Bartlett, Dict. Amer.
1871. Guardian, 12 Nov., 1598/1. Some speculators had ‘cornered’ the Cotton Exchange, that is to say, had bought more for the October delivery than can possibly arrive.
1881. Standard, 29 July, 5/8. Flagrant instances of iniquitous ‘cornering’ and ‘rigging’ the market. Ibid., 14 Sept., 4/7. When sellers have contracted to supply a quantity in excess of what they can obtain they are said to be ‘Cornered.’
1883. Manch. Exam., 6 Nov., 4/4. Those gentlemen who attempt to ‘corner’ cotton.
b. intr. To form a ‘corner’ in a stock or commodity.
a. 1866. A Week in Wall Street, 81 (Bartlett). These [brokers] generally unite in squads for the purpose of cornering.
1881. Daily News, 28 Sept., 4/7. There are many stocks even in America in which the most daring of Wall-street operators would not dream of attempting to corner.
5. trans. a. To take round a corner. b. To go round (a corner) in a race-course. (colloq.)
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., III. 99. He was taken down the Dover road, and cornered out of it.
1864. Saunders News Lett., Ford gaining a little until they came to the turn into the straight run in to the finish, which Rogers cornered beautifully.
6. intr. To abut or impinge on at a corner; to meet at a corner or angle. U.S.
1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home (1879), 221. The woman led us to a pew cornering on one of the side-aisles.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 Aug., 11/2. The junction where Montgomery, Yell, and Garland counties corner.
