Browsing page 2 of new words for April 18, 2009

interjection

• a message (sent literally) to enquire whether someone is present via instant messaging or internet chat. ACK is the affirmative response. (NAK is a humorous negative response, meaning "No, I'm not here.")

  Person A: ping.
  
  Person B: ACK.

  Person A: ping.
  
  Person B: NAK.

  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.
  • See more words with the same meaning: to schedule, check the availability of.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Apr 18 2009.

noun

• a measure of network lag, often used in online gaming.

  I'm getting terrible pings, so I'm going to connect to a different server.

  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.

  Last edited on Apr 18 2009. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Apr 18 2009.

• a short message sent to a person, often to enquire about their availability.

  Could you send Bob a ping and see if he's available for a 4pm meeting?

  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.
  • See more words with the same meaning: to schedule, check the availability of.

  Last edited on Apr 18 2009. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Apr 18 2009.

verb - transitive

• to send a short message to someone or call them briefly, often to enquire about their availability.

  Could you ping Bob and see if he's available for a 4pm meeting?

  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.
  • See more words with the same meaning: to schedule, check the availability of.

  Last edited on Aug 02 2010. Submitted by Mark L. from Newburyport, MA, USA on Nov 07 1999.

• to contact by any means.

  I'll ping you later, when we are ready.

  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.
  • See more words with the same meaning: to contact, call, mail.

  Last edited on Aug 02 2010. Submitted by Tom B. from Hoboken, NJ, USA on Aug 31 2003.

• to send a message to a mailing list, requesting that all subscribers to the list respond to the message. This is done to verify that all subscribers' email addresses work properly.

  I haven't gotten a status report from Tim lately, but he did respond when we pinged the development list.

  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.
  • See more words with the same meaning: to contact, call, mail.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Apr 18 2009.

origin

• From a utility written in 1983 by Mike Muuss, that checks whether a remote computer can respond to network traffic. In turn, this utility (ping) was named after the submariners' term for a sonar pulse (ping).
  • See more words with the same meaning: computer slang.
  • See more words with the same meaning: to schedule, check the availability of.

  Last edited on Nov 15 2011. Submitted by WalterGR (via TheJargonFile) on Apr 18 2009.