geocache

English

Etymology

Of geo- +‎ cache. Suggested by participants in the mailing list gpsstash@egroups.com in May 2000, replacing the earlier gpsstash (see quotations below).

Noun

geocache (plural geocaches)

1. A container hidden in a specific location during geocaching.
   • [2000 May 30, Matt Stum, “Cache vs. Stash”, in Geocaching‎^[1], published 2020-11-26, archived from the original on 19 May 2022:

     Regardless of the final name, can we please replace the word "stash" with "cache"? "GPS Cache Hunt" and "Geocache" still sound find. I believe it still works with all of the variations that David came up with (Geocaching, geocacher, etc).]

   • 2006, Michael Purvis, Jeffrey Sambells, Cameron Turner, Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax: From Novice to Professional, page 32:

     The treasures in this case are geocaches, those little plastic boxes of goodies that are hidden all over the earth.

   • 2006, National Science Teachers Association, Illinois Association of Chemistry Teachers, American Science Teachers Association, The Science Teacher, Volume 73, Issues 1-4, page 56,

     Latitude and longitude coordinates for the location of these hidden geocaches are downloaded from the internet (at sites such as www. geocaching.com) and loaded on a GPS receiver.

   • 2010, Doug Ohman, Chris Niskanen, Prairie, Lake, Forest: Minnesota's State Parks, page 102:

     With school out for the summer, Jason and Sarah sat down and mapped a strategy to find the geocaches at each of the state's seventy-two parks and recreation areas.

Related terms

• geocaching

Translations

hidden item in geocaching

• Finnish: kätkö (fi), geokätkö (fi)
• German: Geocache m, Cache (de) m
• Hungarian: geoláda

Verb

geocache (third-person singular simple present geocaches, present participle geocaching, simple past and past participle geocached)

1. (intransitive) To participate in geocaching.
   • 2004, Mike Dyer, The Essential Guide to Geocaching: Tracking Treasure with Your GPS‎^[2], page 68:

     Those who have never geocached assume that it must be a really easy game;

   • 2006, Margot Anne Kelley, Local Treasures: Geocaching Across America‎^[3], page 142:

     And, in line with the third preference that Kahn observed, nearly all of the places I've geocached have been easy to navigate (and would have been easy even without a GPS).

   • 2010, Paul Gillin, Dana Gillin, The Joy of Geocaching: How to Find Health, Happiness and Creative Energy Through a Worldwide Treasure Hunt, page 131:

     The team, which has more than 68000 finds between them, geocached across all 50 U.S. states in just 10 days.

2. (transitive) To hide or seek a geocache.

Translations

to participate in geocaching

• Finnish: geokätköillä
• Hungarian: geoládázik

to hide or seek a geocache

• Finnish: kätkeä (fi) (hide); etsiä (fi) (seek)
• Hungarian: keres (hu) (seek), rejt (hu) (hide)