cartridge

noun

1. Also called cartouche. a cylindrical case of pasteboard, metal, or the like, for holding a complete charge of powder, and often also the bullet or the shot for a rifle, machine gun, or other small arm.
2. a case containing any explosive charge, as for blasting.
3. any small container for powder, liquid, or gas, made for ready insertion into some device or mechanism: an ink cartridge for a pen.
4. Also called magazine. Photography. a lightproof metal or plastic container for a roll of film, usually containing both the supply and take-up spools, as well as a pressure plate, for rapid loading without the necessity of threading the film.
5. Audio. pickup(def 8).
6. a flat, compact container enclosing an endless loop of audiotape, operated by inserting into a slot in a player.

noun

1. a cylindrical, usually metal casing containing an explosive charge and often a bullet, for a rifle or other small arms
2. a case for an explosive, such as a blasting charge
3. an electromechanical transducer in the pick-up of a record player, usually either containing a piezoelectric crystal (crystal cartridge) or an electromagnet (magnetic cartridge)
4. a container for magnetic tape that is inserted into a tape deck in audio or video systems. It is about four times the size of a cassette
5. Also called: cassette, magazine photog a light-tight film container that enables a camera to be loaded and unloaded in normal light
6. computing a removable unit in a printer which contains black or coloured ink
7. computing a removable unit in a computer, such as an integrated circuit, containing software

n.

1570s, cartage, corruption of French cartouche “a full charge for a pistol,” originally wrapped in paper (16c.), from Italian cartoccio “roll of paper,” an augmentative form of Medieval Latin carta “paper” (see card (n.)). The notion is of a roll of paper containing a charge for a firearm. The modern form of the English word is recorded from 1620s. Extended broadly 20c. to other small containers and their contents.