"box-like receptacle or enclosure, with open spaces, made of wires, reeds, etc.," typically for confining domesticated birds or wild beasts, c. 1200, from Old French cage "cage, prison; retreat, hideout" (12c.), from Latin cavea "hollow place, enclosure for animals, coop, hive, stall, dungeon, spectators' seats in the theater" (source also of Italian gabbia "basket for fowls, coop;" see cave (n.)). From c. 1300 in English as "a cage for prisoners, jail, prison, a cell."