Socket

n.	1.	An opening into which anything is fitted; any hollow thing or place which receives and holds something else; as, the sockets of the teeth. His eyeballs in their hollow sockets sink. - Dryden.
	2.	Especially, the hollow tube or place in which a candle is fixed in the candlestick.
	3.	(Electricity) the receptacle of an electric lamp into which a light bulb is inserted, containing contacts to conduct electricity to the bulb.
	4.	(Electricity) the receptacle fixed in a wall and connected by conductive wiring to an electrical supply, containing contacts to conduct electricity, and into which the plug of an electrical device is inserted; - called also a wall socket or outlet. The socket will typically have two or three contacts; if three, the third is connected to a ground for safety. And in the sockets oily bubbles dance. - Dryden. Socket bolt (Mach.) a bolt that passes through a thimble that is placed between the parts connected by the bolt. Socket chisel Same as Framing chisel. See under Framing. Socket pipe a pipe with an expansion at one end to receive the end of a connecting pipe. Socket pole a pole armed with iron fixed on by means of a socket, and used to propel boats, etc. Socket wrench a wrench consisting of a socket at the end of a shank or rod, for turning a nut, bolthead, etc., in a narrow or deep recess.

Noun	1.	socket - a bony hollow into which a structure fits
	2.	socket - receptacle where something (a pipe or probe or end of a bone) is inserted
	3.	socket - a receptacle into which an electric device can be inserted

(networking)

socket - The Berkeley Unix mechansim for creating a virtual connection between processes. Sockets interface Unix's standard I/O with its network communication facilities. They can be of two types, stream (bi-directional) or datagram (fixed length destination-addressed messages). The socket library function socket() creates a communications end-point or socket and returns a file descriptor with which to access that socket. The socket has associated with it a socket address, consisting of a port number and the local host's network address. Unix manual page: socket(2).

alveolation, alveolus, antrum, armpit, basin, bowl, cavity, concave, concavity, crater, crypt, cup, depression, dip, fold, follicle, funnel chest, hole, hollow, hollow shell, lacuna, pit, pocket, punch bowl, scoop, shell, sink, sinus, trough, vug