cube

noun

1. A regular polyhedron having six identical square faces.

   “When the math teacher is teaching the class about cubes, he asks them to imagine a cardboard box whose width, length, and height are all the same.”

2. Any object more or less in the form of a cube.

   “A: One cube or two? B: Oh, no sugar for me, thanks.”

3. The third power of a number, value, term or expression.

   “The cube of 2 is 8.”

   “The cube of 0.5 is 0.125.”

4. A data structure consisting of a three-dimensional array; a data cube.
5. A Rubik's cube style puzzle, not necessarily in the shape of a cube.
6. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal)Clipping of cubic inch(es).

   “As if the 383 weren't already a roaring beast, in 1972 they bored it out some more, bringing it up to 400 cubes. This 400-cube monster could launch a land yacht like the Plymouth Fury from zero to sixty in under ten seconds.”

7. (dated)An extremely socially conventional or conservative person, moreso than even a square.
8. A cubicle, especially one of those found in offices.

   “My co-worker annoys me by throwing things over the walls of my cube.”

verb

1. (transitive)To raise to the third power; to determine the result of multiplying by itself twice.

   “Three cubed can be written as 3³, and equals twenty-seven.”

   “From this severe trial Mr. Nackybal emerged with distinction, having in his cubing made only twenty-five slight mistakes out of the forty-six cubes demanded, and in his rooting, out of the fifty-three extractions propounded, committed a mere matter of four trifling errors!”

2. (transitive)To form into the shape of a cube.
3. (transitive)To cut into cubes.

   “Cube the ham right after adding the curry to the rice.”

4. (intransitive)To use a Rubik's cube.

   “He likes to cube now and then.”

adj

1. (not-comparable, postpositional)Used in the names of units of area formed by multiplying a unit of length by itself twice.

   “Beautiful peepshows with hand-coloured engravings by Martin Englebrecht, 1684-1756, were produced in Augsburg about 1740. The box, about six inches cube, contained slots to take four cut-out scenes, the front of the box had another cut-out, and the back was painted with a landscape, making six 'curtains' in all.”