Contextualizebeta

computer

noun
/kəmˈpjuːtə/UK/kəmˈpjʉwtə//kəmˈpjutɚ/US

Etymology

From compute + -er. Doublet of cantore, counter, and kontor. First sense first appears c. 1613 in the works of the poet Richard Brathwait. Second sense first appears c. 1897 in the magazine Engineering.

Definitions

  1. A programmable electronic device that performs mathematical calculations and logical…

    A programmable electronic device that performs mathematical calculations and logical operations, especially one that can process, store and retrieve large amounts of data very quickly; now especially, a small one for personal or home use employed for manipulating text or graphics, accessing the Internet, or playing games or media.

    • Meronyms: processor, microprocessor, CPU
    • I spend around 6 hours a day at the computer.
    • As well as saving the photos on my computer, I have them backed up on a USB drive.

  2. A person employed to perform computations

    A person employed to perform computations; one who computes.

    • I haue read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer breathed, and he reduceth thy dayes into a short number: The daies of Man are threescore and ten.
    • By which manner of ſpeaking, this Propheteſs, who is ſo exact a Computer, would have us, I ſuppoſe, to conclude, that it would be a great miſtake to think that the number of Angels was either 9, or 11 for one of Men.
    • Only a few years ago Mr. Powers, an American computer, disproved a hypothesis about prime numbers which had held the field for more than 250 years.

  3. To use a computer.

    • Cool he was computering, though. My dad, who is only in his 60's (mom too) thinks he is too busy to get connected to the internet. Oh well. More bandwidth for the rest of us, huh?
    • I'm constantly computering, schlepping, stressing, and hauling ass like the rest of us. We are New Yorkers.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. To send via computer.

      • They had immediately computered the description out to the scores of law enforcement agencies in Southern California.

    2. To transfer onto a computer

      To transfer onto a computer; to computerize.

      • Our sincere thanks are due to Antje Reuter, Jens Adam and Uwe Horstmann for computering the manuscript and Ralph Phillips and Kirsten Techmer for proof reading it.
      • It is also a pleasure to recommend the skill of Irit Markan who carried out the work of 'computering' the text, and of Ivor Ludlam who bore the labour of proof reading—both the English and the Greek.

The neighborhood

Derived

anticomputer, compucondria, compunications, compusex, computeracy, computer-aided design, computer-aided translation, computer architecture, computerate, computerbased, computer-based, computer-based teaching, computer chess, computer chip, computercide, computer code, computer conferencing, computer-controlled timing, computer core, computer dating, computerdom, computer engineer, computer engineering, computerese, computeresque, computerette, computerful, computer game, Computergate, computer graphics, computerholic, computer illiteracy, computer illiterate, computerisation, computerise, computerism, computerist, computeristic, computeritis, computerize · +61 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at computer. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01computer02electronic03electrons04document05information06entity07data

A definitional loop anchored at computer. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

7 hops · closes at computer

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA