cor·ner / ˈkôrnər/ • n. 1. a place or angle where two or more sides or edges meet: Jan sat at one corner of the table. ∎  an area inside a room, box, or square-shaped space, near the place where two or more edges or surfaces meet. ∎  a place where two streets meet: an apartment on the corner of 199th Street and Amsterdam Avenue | [as adj.] the corner house. ∎ fig. a difficult or awkward situation: he found himself backed into a corner. ∎  first or third base on a baseball diamond. ∎  a sharp bend in a road.2. a part, region, or area, esp. one regarded as secluded or remote: from all corners of the world fig. she couldn't bear journalists prying into every corner of her life. ∎  a position in which one dominates the supply of a particular commodity.3. short for corner kick.4. Boxing & Wrestling each of the diagonally opposite ends of the ring, where a contestant rests between rounds. ∎  a contestant's supporters or seconds.5. Baseball each of the two parallel sides of home plate, which are perceived as defining the vertical edges of the strike zone.• v. [tr.] 1. (often be cornered) force (a person or animal) into a place or situation from which it is hard to escape. ∎  detain (someone) in conversation, typically against their will: I managed to corner Gary for fifteen minutes.2. control (a market) by dominating the supply of a particular commodity: whether they will corner the market in graphics software remains to be seen. ∎  establish a corner in (a commodity).3. [intr.] (of a vehicle or driver) go around a bend in a road.PHRASES: (just) around the corner very near: there's a pharmacy around the corner.cut cornerssee cut.in someone's corner on someone's side; giving someone support and encouragement.on (or at or in) every corner everywhere.see someone/something out of (or from) the corner of one's eye see someone or something at the edge of one's field of vision.turn the cornersee turn.

CORNER

For surveying purposes, the designation given to a particular location formed by the intersection of two boundary lines of real property.

The process by which a group of investors or dealers in a particular commodity exploit its market by purchasing it in large quantities and removing it from general sale for a time, thereby dramatically increasing its market price because its limited supply is greatly exceeded by the demand for it. The condition created when a commitment is made to sell at a special time of delivery in the future, a much greater quantity of a commodity than is available in the present market.

This type of commitment is known as a futures contract. Frequently, neither buyer nor seller expects actual delivery of the goods. They are solely speculating on the difference between the contract price and market price on a particular date. The market price is affected by various economic factors. When a corner is created, the demand for the commodity far exceeds its supply, thereby driving up market prices. On the date of delivery, therefore, the market price will exceed the contract price if no additional quantities can be delivered by persons other than the seller who has "cornered" the market. The buyer must then pay the seller, who had a corner on the specified commodity, the amount by which the market price exceeds the contract price. If, however, additional quantities of the commodity are available in the market, the seller incurs financial losses because the market price will be less than the contract price at which the market was "cornered."

The commodity futures trading commission is the federal regulatory agency charged with the administration of the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.), which is designed to protect all commodity investors from manipulative practices that hinder the free flow of commerce. Anyone who deliberately exploits the commodities market to create a corner may be prosecuted under federal law for commission of a felony, punishable by a fine of not more than $500,000 or imprisonment of not more than five years, or both, plus the costs of prosecution.

corner fight one's corner defend one's position or interests. A boxing metaphor; opponents take diagonally opposite corners of the ring.

See also coffin corner, hole-and-corner, paint oneself into a corner.

corner sb. XIII. — AN. corner, OF. cornier :- Rom. *cornārium, f. L. cornū HORN, point, end; see -ER 2.
Hence corner vb. furnish with, place in, a corner XIV; (orig. U.S.) drive into a corner XIX. cornerstone XIII.

corner. Quoin.