Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - corner

~1 n 1 »WHERE TWO LINES/EDGES MEET« the point at which two lines or edges meet  (He pulled a dirty handkerchief out by its corner and waved it at me. | in/on the corner)  (Write your name in the top left-hand corner of the page. | three-cornered/four-cornered etc)  (a three-cornered hat) 2 »ROADS« (countable often singular) a) the point where two roads meet  (on/at the corner)  (He stopped at the corner of 5th and Main to buy a newspaper.) b) a point in a road where it turns sharply  (I think the gas station should be just around the next corner.) 3 »CORNER OF A ROOM/BOX« (countable often singular) the place inside a room or box where two walls or sides meet  (in/at the corner)  (Jim and his cousin sat in the corner talking about people back home.) 4 »MOUTH« the corners of your mouth are the sides of your mouth  (A small smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.) 5 »DIFFICULT SITUATION« a difficult situation that is difficult to escape from  (force sb into a corner)  (The president is likely to be forced into a corner over his latest plans for welfare spending. | tight corner (=very difficult situation)) 6 »SPORT« a) a kick in soccer that one team is allowed to take from one of the corners of their opponent's end of the field b) any of the four corners of the area in which the competitors fight in boxing or wrestling 7 »DISTANT PLACE« a distant place in another part of the world + of  (She's gone off to do voluntary work in some remote corner of the world. | the four corners of the Earth/world (=all the distant places in the world))  (People came from the four corners of the world to see this spectacle.) 8 see sth out of the corner of your eye to notice something accidentally, without turning your head towards it or looking for it  (Out of the corner of her eye she saw the dog running towards her.) 9 just around the corner likely to happen soon  (Economic recovery is just around the corner.) 10 turn a corner to start to improve  (She's been ill for a long time, but the doctors think she's turned a corner now.) 11 cut corners to do things too quickly, and not as carefully as you should, especially to save money or time  (Don't try to cut corners when you're decorating.) 12 cut a corner to go across the corner of something, especially a road, instead of keeping to the edges 13 have a corner on the market to have a position in which you control all of the supply of a particular type of goods  (The company had a corner on the silver market.)  (- see also kitty-corner) ~2 v 1 to force a person or animal into a position from which they cannot easily escape  (As the dog was cornered, it began to growl threateningly. | Janet cornered Marty in the hall.) 2 corner sb also back sb into a corner to put someone into a position in which they cannot choose to do what they want to do  (They have backed us into a corner - if we don't accept their terms, we'll lose our jobs.) 3 corner the market to gain control of the whole supply of a particular kind of goods  (They're trying to corner the market by buying up all the wheat in sight.) 4 if a car corners, it goes around a corner or curve in the road