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/kash/, n., v., cached, caching.n.1. a hiding place, esp. one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.: She hid her jewelry in a little cache in the cellar.2. anything so hidden: The enemy never found our cache of food.3. Alaska and Northern Canada. a small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food, equipment, etc.v.t.4. to put in a cache; conceal; hide.[1585-95; < F, n. deriv. of cacher to hide < VL *coacticare to stow away, orig. to pack together, equiv. to L coact(us) collected (ptp. of cogere; see COACTIVE) + -ica- formative v. suffix + -re inf. ending]Syn. 2. hoard, stockpile, reserve, store. 4. secrete.
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Temporary computer storage used for quick retrieval of data in order to increase processing speed.The cached data can be stored in a reserved area of RAM, a special cache chip (separate from the CPU) that provides faster access than RAM, or on the disk drive. By keeping frequently accessed data in a rapidly accessible place, the computer can respond quickly to requests for those data without having to perform time-consuming searches of RAM or hard drives. Since a "stale" cache will contain data that have been superseded by later information, the cached data must be refreshed periodically.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
