Corkscrews

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tool with a spiraled design used for pulling corks from bottles, often found in kitchens and bars
2. An instrument featuring a helical structure to extract closures from bottles, typically used for wine
3. A twisting device that allows the removal of corks from containers, commonly associated with beverage service

Etymology: The corkscrew is a compound of two words that came into English on separate routes. "Cork" traces back through Middle English and Middle Dutch to Latin "cortex", meaning bark, and passed through Mozarabic and Spanish "corcho" on its way to English. "Screw" has a different and older pedigree: it descends from Latin "scrofa", a sow, which seems odd until you learn that the tool's spiral thread was named after the animal's curly tail, a sense that passed through Old French "escrue" and "escrove" into Middle English. Neither word, on its own, suggested a device for pulling stoppers. The compound is simply a plain description of what the tool does: a screw made to bite into a cork. Its formation from two everyday English words, rather than from classical roots, is why its name sounds so transparent today, even though both halves began life in other languages.

Synonyms: screwpull, wine opener