Browsing page 3 of words meaning computer slang (288 words total)
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B
box 
noun
- an attractive female.
More words meaning: attractive female
by C. Mathey, FL, USA, Jun 21 1997 (Edit definition)
- an older model Chevy vehicle.
More words meaning: car, motorcycle, or other vehicle
- A computer. Often identified by its operating system, e.g. "Unix box" or "Windows box."
We preprocess the data on Unix boxes before handing it up to the mainframe.
More words meaning: computer slang
by Morgan D., Seattle, WA, USA, Aug 30 2003 (Edit definition)
- a vagina.
More words meaning: vulva ('vagina'), female genitalia
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- box: bang (one's) box – boom box – (show 17 more)
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brain dump
noun
- The act of telling someone everything one knows about a particular topic or project. Typically used when someone is going to let a new party maintain a piece of code. Conceptually analogous to an operating system "core dump".
You'll have to give me a brain dump on FOOBAR before you start your new job at HackerCorp.
More words meaning: computer slang
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- dump: down in the dumps – dump – (show 8 more)
- bra: bird-brain – bra – (show 12 more)
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bread crumbs
noun
- In user-interface design, any feature that allows some tracking of where you've been.
More words meaning: computer slang
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- crumb: crumb bum
- bread: bread – bread and butter – (show 5 more)
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brick 
adjective
- very cold. Usually only used to describe the temperature of a place, e.g. the weather or indoors in a particular location.
It's brick outside today.
More words meaning: cold
by Meeka B., Harlem, NY, USA, Mar 23 1999 (Edit definition)
noun
- an unintelligent person. Derived from "dumb as a brick."
That kid is such a brick!
More words meaning: abbreviations (list of)
More words meaning: unintelligent person, idiotby tim g., Duluth, MN, USA, May 15 2002 (Edit definition)
- a basketball shot in which the ball bounces off the backboard and/or hits the rim, but does not go though the net.
He keeps on hitting bricks.
Brick!
More words meaning: sports (related to)
by Fox, Queens, NY, USA, Jan 27 2003 (Edit definition)
- a large quantity of drugs packaged in a brick shape, especially cocaine.
I'm gonna buy some bricks tonight.
More words meaning: cocaine
More words meaning: drugsby Terry S., Long Island City, NY, USA, Mar 08 2003 (Edit definition)
- an external power transformer of the kind associated with laptops, modems, routers and other small computing appliances, especially one of the modern type with cords on both ends, as opposed to the type that plug directly into an outlet.
More words meaning: computer slang
- a piece of electronic or computer equipment that has been rendered unusable. Especially used to describe what happens to devices like routers or PDAs during a firmware update when the firmware image is damaged or power is lost. This term usually implies irreversibility, but equipment can sometimes be "unbricked."
More words meaning: broken
More words meaning: computer slang - a large cellphone.
More words meaning: telephone, phone
by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Sep 21 2009 (Edit definition)
transitive verb
- to hit with bricks.
James's car got bricked last night.
More words meaning: to break, ruin, destroy
by Key, Mar 21 2006 (Edit definition)
- to render a (usually portable) electronic device unusable - i.e. as useful as a brick.
I bricked my iPhone trying to jailbreak it.
More words meaning: computer slang
More words meaning: to break, ruin, destroyby WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Aug 03 2009 (Edit definition)
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- brick: brick-and-mortar – brick house – (show 7 more)
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brute force
adjective
- a primitive programming style, one in which the programmer relies on the computer's processing power instead of using his or her own intelligence to simplify the problem.
More words meaning: computer slang
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- force: force it
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bug 
intransitive verb
- to joke; KID.
Ya buggin'.
More words meaning: to joke, kid, or jest
- to be extremely excited.
I'm buggin'!
More words meaning: excited, energetic
by Wendy R., Dallas, TX 75231, USA, May 10 2007 (Edit definition)
- to react with extreme or irrational distress or composure; FREAK OUT.
I was bugging after she got home.
More words meaning: to become angry, go crazy, freak out
noun
- An unwanted and unintended property of a program or piece of hardware, especially one that causes it to malfunction.
There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backwards.
The system crashed because of a hardware bug.
Fred is a winner, but he has a few bugs. (i.e. Fred is a good guy, but he has a few personality problems).
More words meaning: a mistake, bad idea, wrong, inappropriate
More words meaning: broken
More words meaning: computer slang
transitive verb
- to pester or annoy.
Why do you keep bugging me? Go away.
More words meaning: to annoy, interfere, intrude
origin
- Regarding the "unwanted and unintended property" meaning:
Admiral Grace Hopper (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing the programming language COBOL) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a malfunction in the Harvard Mark II machine by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated "bug" in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads, "1545 Relay #70 Panel F (moth) in relay. First actual case of bug being found."
This wording establishes that the term was already in use at the time in its current specific sense, and Hopper herself reports that the term "bug" was regularly applied to problems in radar electronics during WWII.
Indeed, the use of "bug" to mean an industrial defect was already established in Thomas Edison's time, and a more specific and rather modern use can be found in an electrical handbook from 1896 (Hawkin's New Catechism of Electricity, Theo. Audel & Co.) which says, "The term "bug" is used to a limited extent to designate any fault or trouble in the connections or working of electric apparatus."
It further notes that the term is said to have originated in quadruplex telegraphy and have been transferred to all electric apparatus.
The latter observation may explain a common folk etymology of the term: that it came from telephone company usage, in which bugs in a telephone cable were blamed for noisy lines.
Historians of the field inform us that the term was regularly used in the early days of telegraphy to refer to a variety of semi-automatic telegraphy keyers that would send a string of dots if you held them down. In fact, the Vibroplex keyers (which were among the most common of this type) even had a graphic of a beetle on them (and still do)! While the ability to send repeated dots automatically was very useful for professional morse code operators, these were also significantly trickier to use than the older manual keyers, and it could take some practice to ensure one didn't introduce extraneous dots into the code by holding the key down a fraction too long. In the hands of an inexperienced operator, a Vibroplex "bug" on the line could mean that a lot of garbled Morse would soon be coming your way.
Further, the term has long been used among radio technicians to describe a device that converts electromagnetic field variations into acoustic signals. It is used to trace radio interference and look for dangerous radio emissions. Radio community usage derives from the roach-like shape of the first versions used by 19th century physicists. The first versions consisted of a coil of wire (roach body), with the two wire ends sticking out and bent back to nearly touch forming a spark gap (roach antennae). The bug is to the radio technician what the stethoscope is to the stereotypical medical doctor. This sense is almost certainly ancestral to modern use of "bug" meaning a covert monitoring device, but may also have contributed to the use of the term for the effects of radio interference itself.
Actually, use of "bug" in the general sense of a disruptive event goes back to Shakespeare! (Henry VI, part III - Act V, Scene II: King Edward:
"So, lie thou there. Die thou; and die our fear; For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all."
In the first edition of Samuel Johnson's dictionary one meaning of "bug" is "A frightful object; a walking spectre." This is traced to "bugbear", a Welsh term for a variety of mythological monster which (to complete the circle) has recently been reintroduced into the popular lexicon through fantasy role-playing games. In any case, in jargon the word almost never refers to insects.
A careful discussion of the etymological issues can be found in a paper by Fred R. Shapiro, 1987, "Entomology of the Computer Bug: History and Folklore", American Speech 62(4):376-378.
As of late 1990, the NSWC still had the bug, but had unsuccessfully tried to get the Smithsonian to accept it. The present curator of their History of American Technology Museum didn't know this and agreed that it would make a worthwhile exhibit. It was moved to the Smithsonian in mid-1991, but due to space and money constraints was not actually exhibited for years afterwards.
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Slang terms with the same root words:
- bug: bug boy – bug-eyed – (show 5 more)
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bug-for-bug compatible
noun
- Same as compatible, with the additional implication that much effort went into ensuring that each (known) bug was replicated.
More words meaning: computer slang
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- bug: bug – bug boy – (show 5 more)
- for: along for the ride – bat for the other team – (show 60 more)
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C
careware
noun
- A variety of shareware for which either the author suggests that some payment be made to a nominated charity or a levy directed to charity is included on top of the distribution charge. Synonym: charityware.
More words meaning: computer slang
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charityware
noun
- Syn. careware.
More words meaning: computer slang
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chrome
noun
- hot or fine.
Man! that dog is chrome!!
by Larry K., Virginia, USA, Oct 18 2002 (Edit definition)
- Showy features added to attract users but contributing little or nothing to the power of a system.
More words meaning: computer slang
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- chrome: can suck chrome off a tail pipe – chrome dome – (show 1 more)
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clobber
- to strike a heavy blow.
His car got clobbered by a freight train".
- to defeat.
by WalterGR, Sacramento, CA, USA, Sep 02 2009 (Edit definition)
transitive verb
- To overwrite, in computing, usually unintentionally:
I walked off the end of the array and clobbered the stack.
More words meaning: computer slang
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coaster 
noun
- The product of an unsuccessful attempt at burning a CD or DVD. That is, an unusable CD/DVD suitable only for use as a coaster.
Damn, I tried to burn that movie but I keep making coasters.
More words meaning: broken
More words meaning: computer slang - CDs received in the mail from the likes of AOL.
More words meaning: computer slang
More words meaning: unimportant, useless
notes
- In the UK, "beermat" is often used in these senses.
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- coaster: coastered
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code monkey
noun
- Anyone who writes code for a living; a programmer.
- A self-deprecating way of denying responsibility for a management decision, or of complaining about having to live with such decisions.
Don't ask me why we need to write a compiler in COBOL, I'm just a code monkey.
- A person only capable of grinding out code, but unable to perform higher-level tasks of software architecture, analysis, and design. Mildly insulting. Often applied to the most junior people on a programming team.
More words meaning: computer slang
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- code: code brown – code red – (show 3 more)
- monkey: ass monkey – ass-monkey – (show 34 more)
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compooter 
noun
- a computer that malfunctions frequently. See poo.
Dude, what's up with the compooter? I need to get on the web.
More words meaning: broken
More words meaning: computer slangby Lamar Haslam, Buffalo, NY, USA, Jun 07 2007 (Edit definition)
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considered harmful
adjective
- phrasing used to espouse the belief that something in programming is a bad idea.
More words meaning: computer slang
origin
- From Edsger W. Dijkstra's note in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM, Goto Statement Considered Harmful, fired the first salvo in the structured programming wars. As it turns out, the title under which the letter appeared was actually supplied by CACM's editor, Niklaus Wirth. Amusingly, the ACM considered the resulting acrimony sufficiently harmful that it will (by policy) no longer print an article taking so assertive a position against a coding practice. (Years afterwards, a contrary view was uttered in a CACM letter called, inevitably, "Goto considered harmful" considered harmful". In the ensuing decades, a large number of both serious papers and parodies have borne titles of the form X considered Y. The structured-programming wars eventually blew over, but use of such titles has remained as a persistent minor in-joke.
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cracker
- Also a racial slur. For more details see here.
noun
- One who breaks the security on a system.
More words meaning: computer slang
origin
- Coined circa 1985 by hackers (the good kind - people who love to tinker) in defense against journalistic misuse of the word "hacker" to mean someone who breaks into computers.
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Slang terms with the same root words:
- cracker: cheese and crackers got all muddy – crackered down – (show 2 more)
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craplet
noun
- A worthless applet (small program.) Also crapplet.
More words meaning: computer slang
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crash 
intransitive verb
- to sleep.
I crashed over at his house last night.
I was so tired after work I just crashed.
More words meaning: to sleep
noun
- A sudden, usually drastic failure.
My computer suffered a pretty bad crash.
More words meaning: a mistake, bad idea, wrong, inappropriate
More words meaning: computer slang
transitive verb
- to arrive unexpectedly and uninvited, esp. to a social function such as a party or ceremony. Origin: perhaps derived from a vehicular accident ("crash") which is both unexpected and unwanted.
I hate people who crash my party
More words meaning: to annoy, interfere, intrude
by Ryan L., Washington, DC, USA, Oct 14 1998 (Edit definition)
- To fail suddenly.
Has the system just crashed?
Something crashed the OS!
More words meaning: computer slang
More words meaning: to make a mistake, be incorrect, err
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- crash: crash and burn – crash out
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crippleware
noun
- Software that has some important functionality deliberately removed, so as to entice potential users to pay for a working version.
More words meaning: computer slang
- Hardware deliberately crippled, which can be upgraded to a more expensive model by a trivial change (e.g., cutting a jumper).
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cruft
noun
- Excess; superfluous junk; used esp. of redundant or superseded code.
- The results of shoddy construction.
More words meaning: computer slang
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