release

en-verb

release (third-person singular simple present releases, present participle releasing, simple past and past participle released)

releases (present singular third-person)
releasing (participle present)
released (participle past)
released (past)

From Middle English relesen, relessen, from Old French relaisser (variant of relascher).

If you continue to use abusive language, I will need to release the call.


ASIC

integrated circuit
integrated circuit#English

(electronics) Acronym of application-specific integrated circuit.


kludge

Perhaps from British military slang, possibly based on a Scots word kludge or kludgie (“common toilet”), or perhaps from German klug (“clever”). Alternatively, possibly related to Polish klucz (“a key, a hint, a main point”) and Russian ключ (ključ, “key, clue”).
Alternatively, perhaps from (a form related to) Germanic words such as Dutch Low Saxon klütje (“(little) dumpling, clod”), Dutch kluit(je) or Jutland Danish klyt (“piece of bad workmanship, klud(g)e”); compare and standard Danish kludder (“mess, disorder”). (Compare klutz.)
There is evidence that kluge (which see) was once a separate word with similar meaning but separate derivation, but the spelling kludge was widely popularized in the US by a 1962 Datamation article on "How to Design a Kludge", and since then the two words have often been used as alternative spellings of each other.
According to the OED, an "invented word" influenced by bodge and fudge.

cog

(informal, electronics, engineering) An improvised device, typically crudely constructed to test the validity of a principle before doing a finished design.


telegraph

André François Miot de Mélito
Claude Chappe
telegraph
telegraph (disambiguation)

Borrowed from French télégraphe, equivalent to tele- (“far, distant”) + graph (“writing”), suggested as a new name for Claude Chappe's overland semaphore network by André François Miot de Mélito in place of Chappe's original tachygraphe (“tachygraph, fast writer”).

af

This strict sense of telegraph developed from French usage for Napoleon's overland semaphore network but rather arbitrarily excludes similar Chinese and other signalling networks.

(uncommon) Synonym of telegraphy, any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a symbolic code.


TLC

en-noun

TLC (countable and uncountable, plural TLCs)

(countable, electronics) Initialism of triple-level cell.


dog and bone

Oi, keep the noise down! I'm talking to my old lady on the dog and bone.

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

Australian rhyming slang
Australian rhyming slang

(Cockney rhyming slang, Australian rhyming slang) A telephone.


minicomputer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-minicomputer.wav

(computer hardware) A computer smaller than a mainframe, but larger than a microcomputer.


watchdog

/ˈwɑːt͡ʃˌdɑːɡ/

/ˈwɒt͡ʃˌdɒɡ/

(electronics, computing) Ellipsis of watchdog timer.


watchdog

en-verb

watchdog (third-person singular simple present watchdogs, present participle watchdogging, simple past and past participle watchdogged)

watchdogs (present singular third-person)
watchdogging (participle present)
watchdogged (participle past)
watchdogged (past)

/ˈwɑːt͡ʃˌdɑːɡ/

/ˈwɒt͡ʃˌdɒɡ/

(electronics) To be continuously reset by a watchdog timer.


bus bridge

(computer hardware) A device for connecting two disparate hardware buses.


speaking

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

nonlemma

(telephony) Indication that the person requested is the same as the one who is currently speaking.

на телефона

indication that the person requested is the same as the one who is currently speaking


iPod

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-
Proto-Indo-European *h₁en-
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én
Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér
Proto-Italic *ənter
Latin inter
Latin inter-bor.
English inter-
Proto-Indo-European *neHd-der.
Proto-Germanic *natją
Proto-West Germanic *nati
Old English nett
Middle English net
English net
Proto-Indo-European *werǵ-
Proto-Indo-European *-om
Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom
Proto-Germanic *werką
Proto-West Germanic *werk
Old English weorc
Middle English werk
English work
English network
English internetwork
English Internet
English i-
English pod
English iPod
Coined (and trademarked) by Apple, from i- + pod, suggesting a small place to keep things. Inspired by the space shuttles in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the quote, "Open the pod bay doors, Hal."

etymon

Britain's twenty-somethings have become iPod-carrying Dick Whittingtons, drawn to London by the prospect of large salaries and hopes of a vibrant social life.

[…] It's like my iPod stuck on replay

(trademark) A portable music player made by Apple.


wake-up call

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-wake-up call.wav

She requested a five a.m. wake-up call from the front desk.

A telephone call to awaken someone at a certain time, especially one requested by the person while staying at a hotel.


pedestal

From Middle French piédestal from Italian piedistallo (literally “foot stand”).

uder

(electronics) The measured value when no input signal is given.


channel

→ Japanese: チャンネル (channeru)

→ Korean: 채널 (chaeneol)

→ Welsh: sianel

From Middle English chanel (also as canel, cannel, kanel), a borrowing from Old French chanel, canel, from Latin canālis (“groove; canal; channel”). Doublet of canal.

kanal

communication: single path provided by a transmission medium via physical separation

kanaal

broadcasting: specific radio frequency or band of frequencies used for transmitting television

The guard-rail provided the channel between the downed wire and the tree.

(electronics) A connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit.

kanal

electronics: connection between initiating and terminating nodes of a circuit

(electronics) The narrow conducting portion of a MOSFET transistor.


remote control

en-noun

remote control (countable and uncountable, plural remote controls)

desc

→ Japanese: リモートコントロール (rimōto kontorōru), リモートコントローラー (rimōto kontorōrā)

A single slice of this could leave you supine in front of the Queen's speech without even the wherewithal to reach for the remote control.

2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian:

(countable) A device used to operate an appliance (such as a television, vehicle, or mechanical toy) from a short distance away.

afstandsbeheerder

device used to operate an appliance from a short distance


burner

→ Japanese: バーナー (bānā)

From burn + -er. Merged with and eclipsed related Middle English brennar, brennere (“an incendiary, incinerator”). Compare German Brenner (“burner”), Swedish brännare (“burner”).

(chemistry) A device that generates localized heat for experiments; a Bunsen burner.

горелка

(computing) A device that allows data or music to be stored on a CDR or CD-ROM.

brander

computing: device that allows data or music to be stored on a CD

No one on the corner has swagger like us / Hit me on my burner prepaid wireless

2007, “Paper Planes”, in Kala, performed by M.I.A.:

(slang) Ellipsis of burner phone; a mobile phone used for only a short time and then thrown away so that the owner cannot be traced.

burner phone

(computing) An app that creates temporary phone numbers for a user.


strapper

From strap + -er, principally strap + -er (agent noun suffix). The sense referring to a poorly producing milk cow (from strap + -er) came from a dialectal sense of the verb strap as a troponym of milk: not even the most skilful milking action could coax enough milk from the udder.

(electronics) A wire that joins two light switches so that a light can be turned off or on from either switch.


STD

en-noun

STD (countable and uncountable, plural STDs)

subscriber trunk dialling
subscriber trunk dialling#English

subscriber toll dialing
subscriber toll dialing#English

(telephony) Initialism of subscriber trunk dialling or subscriber toll dialing.


populate

en-verb

populate (third-person singular simple present populates, present participle populating, simple past and past participle populated)

populates (present singular third-person)
populating (participle present)
populated (participle past)
populated (past)

Borrowed from Medieval Latin populātus, past participle of populor (“populate”), from Latin populus (“people”).

(electronics) To fill initially empty slots or sockets on a circuit board or similar.


notch

Recorded since 1577, probably a rebracketing of an + otch, which noun stems from Middle French oche (“notch”), itself from the Old French verb ochier (“to notch”), of uncertain origin, but possibly related to French hocher and English nick (“small cut, notch”).

(electronics) A portion of a mobile phone that overlaps the edge of the screen, used to house a camera, sensors etc. while maximizing screen space.


electronics

en-noun

electronics (countable and uncountable, plural electronics)

The electronics is the difference between a modern and an old-fashioned thermostat.

The electronics are completely updated.


terminator

[ˈtɜː.mɪ.næɪ.ɾə]

* Partly from post-classical Latin terminator (5th century), from Latin terminō; partly from terminate + -or.
* (android that kills humans): After the 1984 film The Terminator.

(electronics) An electrical device that absorbs reflection at the end of a transmission line.


standby

standby (countable and uncountable, plural standbys)


FED

Field emission display
field emission display#English


clicker

We have a clicker for the TV, one for the VCR, one for the DVD player and another one that does it all.

(slang) The remote-control device used to change settings on a television set, VCR, or other electronic equipment.


tinkle

tinkle (countable and uncountable, plural tinkles)

From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink + -le (frequentative suffix).

Give me a tinkle when you arrive.


UE

(electronics) Initialism of User Equipment. (in UMTS)


storage

storage (usually uncountable, plural storages)

/ˈstɔː.ɹɪd͡ʒ/

/ˈstɔɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/

I′d recommend backing up these files to storage before reinstalling the operating system.

Secondary storages are used to store system programs (viz; operating system, assembler, interpreter, compiler and so on), data files, software packages and so on.

2007, Ramesh Bangia, Computer Fundamentals and Information Technology, India: Firewall Media, page 43:

(usually uncountable, computer hardware) Any computer device, including such as a disk, on which data is stored for a longer term than main memory.


resistance

resistance (countable and uncountable, plural resistances)

From earlier resistence, from Middle English resistence, from Old French resistence, from Latin resistentia.
Morphologically resist + -ance.

In our study of simple electrical circuits, we have considered a single source of E.M.F. for each individual circuit but we have learned that any number of resistances may be connected in parallel […]

1928, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Long Lines Dept, Principles of Electricity Applied to Telephone and Telegraph Work (page 52)


VoIP

The VoIP Forum is dedicated to enabling and promoting industry-wide interoperability between products that send telephony over the Internet and private IP enterprise networks. This interoperability will allow seamless transmission of Internet phone calls regardless of the telephony application used by callers and call recipients. At present, applications from different vendors are incompatible due to fundamental differences in voice coding, silence suppression, addressing and dialing plans, call management and other related functions.

1996 November 12, IMTC, Inc., comp.dcom.telecom (Usenet), retrieved 2016-11-03, message-ID <telecom16.627.2@massis.lcs.mit.edu>:

VoIP "represents a group of competing companies who've gotten together to agree on standards," Pulver says. "It's very important," and is good news for users, because their co-operation will move Internet telephony forward, he says.

1996 November 13, Rebecca Sykes, “Group forms to spur Internet telephony”, in Computerworld New Zealand, archived from the original on 2016-11-03:

(Internet, telephony) Voice over Internet Protocol, a telecommunications system that uses the Internet or other Internet Protocol network to transmit telephone calls.


audiotape

Any of a cassette tape, eight-track tape, reel-to-reel tape, DAT, etc.


depopulate

en-verb

depopulate (third-person singular simple present depopulates, present participle depopulating, simple past and past participle depopulated)

depopulates (present singular third-person)
depopulating (participle present)
depopulated (participle past)
depopulated (past)

(transitive, electronics) To remove the components from a circuit board.


9/11 attacks
911 (disambiguation)
Federal Communications Commission
National Emergency Number Association
United States

Chosen by the United States in the 1960s in place of the older British 999 number as a better way to avoid accidental calls from push-button telephones. It is officially pronounced "nine-one-one," not "nine-eleven," since "nine-eleven" refers to the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. 9/11 is universally distinguished from 911 and usually refers to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Officially written as 9-1-1 in regulations and materials from the United States National Emergency Number Association and Federal Communications Commission, which is also advocated by some media style guides.

I don't know why they couldn't just keep it as it was! How hard is it to remember 911?
You mean 999...
I mean 999!
That's the American one!
Yeah!

2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2

When you call 911 in the United States, a local dispatcher usually answers the phone with "911" or "911. What's your emergency?"

The telephone number for emergency services in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Liberia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Anguilla, Palau, and Tonga.

emergency services(Australia) 000(Mongolia) 105(China, Iran) 110(New Zealand) 111(European Union) 112(Japan, South Korea) 119(UK, Ireland) 999


engaged tone

(UK, Ireland, telephony) An audible signal to the calling party that indicates failure to complete the requested connection; a busy signal


ex-directory

(UK, Ireland) Of a telephone number or its owner: not in the directory; unlisted.


ballast

en-noun

ballast (usually uncountable, plural ballasts)

From Middle English bar (“bare”) + last (“load”).

(countable, electricity, electronics) device used for stabilizing current in an electric circuit (e.g. in a tube lamp supply circuit)


crystal set

(electronics) An early radio receiver, having no electrical power supply except the radio waves themselves; it used a crystal of lead or cadmium sulphide and a wire (the cat's whisker) touching the crystal's surface.


attenuate

en-verb

attenuate (third-person singular simple present attenuates, present participle attenuating, simple past and past participle attenuated)

attenuates (present singular third-person)
attenuating (participle present)
attenuated (participle past)
attenuated (past)

From Latin attenuāre, from attenuāt-, at- = ad- (“to”) + tenuāre (“to make thin”), tenuis (“thin”).

(transitive, electronics) To reduce the amplitude of an electrical, radio, or optical signal.


HOT

en-noun

HOT (countable and uncountable, plural HOTs)

hybrid-orientation technology
hybrid-orientation technology#English

(electronics) Acronym of hybrid-orientation technology. (CMOS fabrication technology that uses PMOS and NMOS substrates with differing orientations)

hybrid-orientation technology

hybrid-orientation technique
hybrid-orientation technique#English

(electronics) Acronym of hybrid-orientation technique. (a technique that applies the technology)


disable

en-verb

disable (third-person singular simple present disables, present participle disabling, simple past and past participle disabled)

disables (present singular third-person)
disabling (participle present)
disabled (participle past)
disabled (past)

The pilot had to disable the autopilot of his airplane.

(chiefly electronics, computing) To deactivate, to make inoperational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

afskakel

to deactivate a function of an electronic or mechanical device


oscilloscope

An electronic measuring instrument that creates a visible two-dimensional graph, on a screen, of one or more continuously varying voltages or currents.


memory chip

(computing, electronics) A RAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM or EEPROM microchip that can be plugged into a personal computer to provide temporary or permanent memory.


off the hook

An allusion to a fish caught on the hook of a fishing line.

When the boss assigned the project to Tom, the rest of us were relieved to be off the hook.

Without any evidence, the police had to let the suspect off the hook.

Dom (David Jonsson): Tempting, but I think it's actually something I need to do. Like, I get what they did was peak, but I have to take some responsibility, you know?
Yas (Vivian Oparah): Like, not at all. You're gonna let them off the hook after how they treated you?

2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane:

(idiomatic) Relieved of a duty, burden, responsibility, or pressure.


off the hook

Referring to the candlestick phone, which in order to hang up, the receiver must be hung on a hook. Leaving the receiver off the hook would prevent it from being able to receive calls.

I think he left the phone off the hook so that nobody would call him.

Of a telephone, having an open connection; not hung up.

The phone was ringing off the hook all night.


ghosting

en-noun

ghosting (countable and uncountable, plural ghostings)

(electronics, television) The blurry appearance of a television picture resulting from interference caused by multipath reception.

Geisterbild

appearance of ghosts on a television screen


quad

Shortened, via clipping or abbreviation, from various English terms. Ultimately related to Latin quattuor (“4”); compare quadri-, quadruple.
The typography senses are from the abbreviation quad. for obsolete quadrat; the keyboard command comes from the verb sense.

Clipping of quadruplet (“a set of four; one of a set of four”).

(electronics, telecommunications) A group of four insulated wires twisted together to form two circuits of two wires each.


landline

vezetékes

(attributively) connected by a fixed communications cable

(by extension) A telephone connected by such a fixed wire, specifically not wireless/mobile.


coil

→ Japanese: コイル (koiru)

From Middle English coilen, from Old French coillir, cuillir (“to gather, pluck, pick, cull”) (modern French cueillir), from Latin colligō (“to gather together”), past participle collectus, from com- (“together”) + legō (“to gather”); compare legend. Doublet of cull.

(electronics) A coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow.

وَشِيعَة

coil of electrically conductive wire through which electricity can flow — see also inductor


coax

coax (countable and uncountable, plural coaxes)


walkie-talkie

It is intended to equip the yard foremen and shunters with "walkie-talkie" apparatus to keep them in close touch with the control office.

1962 July, “The Irish Scene”, in Modern Railways, page 11:

A walkie-talkie is a handheld, portable, two-way radio transceiver. It includes a half-duplex channel (only one radio transmits at a time, though any number can listen) and a push-to-talk switch that starts transmission.

2009, L. K. Bandyopadhyay, S. K. Chaulya, P. K. Mishra, Wireless Communication in Underground Mines: RFID-based Sensor Networking, Springer,, →ISBN:

A portable, bidirectional radio transceiver, usually one of a pair.


Morse code

(telecommunications) A character code represented by dots and dashes (or short and long pulses), originally used to send messages by telegraph, later by flashes of light or by radio.


generation loss

generation loss (countable and uncountable, plural generation losses)

(electronics) The loss of quality between successive copies, usually associated with magnetic audio and video media.


cold call

I got a cold call in the middle of dinner from someone trying to sell roofing and siding because they're allegedly working in my area this week.

A sales call either by telephone or personal presence, made without a referral or without preparing the recipient of the call.


mainframe

→ Italian: mainframe

→ Japanese: メインフレーム (meinfurēmu)

→ Portuguese: mainframe

→ Spanish: mainframe

(computer hardware) A large, powerful computer able to manage very many simultaneous tasks and communicate with very many connected terminals; used by large, complex organizations (such as banks and supermarkets) where continuously sustained operation is vital.

(computer hardware) A computer chassis that hosts and interconnects modules that perform various tasks.


ERC

(telephony) Initialism of easily-recognizable code.


choke

From Middle English choken (also cheken), from earlier acheken, from Old English āċēocian (“to choke”), probably derived from Old English ċēoce, ċēace (“jaw, cheek”), see cheek. Cognate with Icelandic kok (“throat”), koka (“to gulp”). See also achoke.


wireless telegraphy

wireless telegraphy (usually uncountable, plural wireless telegraphies)

This most conspicuous triumph of Mr. Marconi's invention is peculiarly gratifying to The Times, which has long made liberal use of wireless telegraphy in its European news service.

1909 January 26, “The Triumph of Wireless Telegraphy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(telegraphy, historical) Telegraphy by radio rather than by transmission cables.


cell phone

(chiefly Canada, US, New Zealand, Philippines) A portable, wireless telephone, which changes antenna connections seamlessly during travel from one radio reception cell to another without losing the party-to-party call connection.


twitter

twitter (countable and uncountable, plural twitters)

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

inh

Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.

1986, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986, IEEE, page 145:

(uncountable, electronics) Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.


wired

en-adj

wired (comparative more wired, superlative most wired)

more wired (comparative)
most wired (superlative)

In typical Singaporean style, however, once the decision to get wired was made, the various agencies moved to ensure the Internet diffused very quickly.

2002, Derek Da Cunha, Singapore in the new millennium: challenges facing the city-state, page 247:

Coffee drinkers now have yet another way to get wired. Laptop and Tablet PC users can have their double grande mocha lattes and surf the Web simultaneously at STARBUCKS[…]

2004 December, Cincinnati Magazine, volume 38, number 3, page 44:

(informal, of people or communities) Connected to the Internet; online.


videocassette recorder

en-noun

videocassette recorder (plural videocassette recorders)

An electronic device for recording and playing back television programs and movies (featuring visual images and sound) on a videocassette that can be attached to a television set.


actuator

[ˈæk.t͡ʃʉ.æɪ.ɾə(ɹ)]

From actuate + -or. First attested in 1652.

(computer hardware) The mechanism that moves the head assembly on a disk drive.

toimilaite

the mechanism that moves the head assembly on a disk drive


UHF

UHF antenna

Ultra High Frequency
ultra high frequency#English

(electronics) Initialism of Ultra High Frequency.


male-to-female

(electronics, of an adapter) That changes a male end (with pins, usually a plug) of a connection into a female one (usually a socket).


female-to-male

(electronics, of an adapter) That changes a female end (usually a socket) of a connection into a male one (with pins, usually a plug).


telegram

/ˈtɛləˌɡɹæm/

There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.[…]Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching telegrams.

1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:

On 20 May 1937 when down in Bradford-on-Avon on business, Bulleid received a telegram with the cryptic news: 'Sir Herbert Walker wishes to see you twelve thirty tomorrow—Gresley'.

1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 394:


interrupt

/ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/

/ˈɪntəˌɹʌpt/

Borrowed from Latin interruptus, from interrumpere (“to break apart, break to pieces, break off, interrupt”), from inter (“between”) + rumpere (“to break”).

The interrupt caused the packet handler routine to run.

(computing, electronics) An event that causes a computer or other device to temporarily cease what it was doing and attend to a condition.

přerušení

an event that causes a computer to temporarily cease


Darlington

/ˈdɑːlɪŋtən/

-ɑː(ɹ)lɪŋtən

From Middle English Dearnington, Derlinton, from Old English Dearthingtun, supposedly “the settlement of Deornoth's people”, from an unclear root + -ing + -tun. The transistor configuration is named for its inventor, Sidney Darlington.

(electronics) Short for Darlington pair.


PDA

PDA (countable and uncountable, plural PDAs)

Despite the fast pace of innovation in PDAs, particularly this year, a number of standards have emerged allowing software makers the security needed to invest in developing extensive software for three platforms: the PalmPilot made by 3Com, the Psion Series 5 by Psion and Windows CE devices made by a group of companies including Philips, Sharp Electronics, Casio Corp. and Hewlett Packard Corp.

1998 November 16, Paul Floren, “Digital Assistants Get Sophisticated”, in International Herald Tribune, →ISSN:

personal digital assistant
personal digital assistant#English

(electronics) Initialism of personal digital assistant.


unlock

en-verb

unlock (third-person singular simple present unlocks, present participle unlocking, simple past and past participle unlocked)

unlocks (present singular third-person)
unlocking (participle present)
unlocked (participle past)
unlocked (past)

From Middle English unloken, unlouken, onlouken, from Old English onlūcan (“to unlock”), equivalent to un- + lock. Cognate with Dutch ontluiken (“to unlock”).

(transitive, mobile telephony) To configure (a mobile phone) so that it is not bound to any particular carrier.


cathode

From Ancient Greek κατα- (kata-, “down”) and ὁδός (hodós, “journey, way”), equivalent to Ancient Greek κάθοδος (káthodos, “way down, descent”). Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year. By surface analysis, cath- (alternative form of cata-) + -ode.

surf

(electronics) The electrode from which electrons are emitted into a vacuum tube or gas-filled tube.

(electronics) That electrode of a semiconductor device which is connected to the n-type material of a p-n junction.


IED

en-noun

IED (countable and uncountable, plural IEDs)

(electronics) Initialism of Intelligent Electronic Device (a sensor, actuator, or PLC used as part of a SCADA system)


BT

(electronics) Abbreviation of Bluetooth.


controller

/kənˈtɹəʊlə/

From Middle English countreroller, from Anglo-Norman contreroulour and Middle French contreroleur (French contrôleur), from Medieval Latin contrārotulātor, from *contrārotulāre (from which control). By surface analysis, control + -er.

Nothing more can be squeezed out of the motive power unit once the master controller has been moved to full on.

1963 February, Cecil J. Allen, “Locomotive Running Past and Present”, in Modern Railways, page 115:

(electronics) Any electric or mechanical device for controlling a circuit or system.

(computer hardware) A mechanism that controls or regulates the operation of a machine, especially a peripheral device in a computer.

řadič

computer hardware: mechanism that controls or regulates the operation of a machine

driver

device that regulates a machine's operation


turret

From Middle English touret, from Old French torete (French tourette), diminutive of tour (“tower”), from Latin turris. Doublet of tor, tourelle, and tower. See tower.

оръдейна кула

a revolving tower constructed of thick iron plates

(electronics) A tower-like solder post on a turret board (a circuit board with posts instead of holes).


transducer

1924, Latin trānsdūcō + -er. By surface analysis, transduce + -er.

(computing theory) A state machine that generates output based on a given input.


thermionic valve

thermionic valve (plural thermionic valves)

The age of electronics began in 1906 with Lee De Forest's invention of the vacuum tube, or, as the British (led by John Ambrose Fleming, whose work preceded De Forest's) described it, the thermionic valve.

2012, George Dyson, Turing's Cathedral, Penguin, published 2013, page 65:

(chiefly historical) An electronic device incorporating electrons from a glowing cathode inside an evacuated glass tube, functioning as a switch, amplifier etc.


transistor radio

transistor radio (plural transistor radios)

(dated) A small portable radio receiver having transistors rather than thermionic valves; popular from the late 1950s.


hexode

a thermionic valve containing two triodes; was used in superheterodyne radio receivers


heptode

A compound thermionic valve containing a triode and tetrode; was used in superheterodyne radio receivers.


pentode

A thermionic valve similar to a tetrode with the addition of a third grid, the suppressor grid to reduce the secondary emission effect; was/is used in high quality audio and radio products.


touch screen

(computer hardware) An input/output device that allows the user to interact with the computer by touching the display screen.


receiver

From Anglo-Norman receverre, receivour et al., later also reformed as receive + -er. Compare recevor, rescaivour.

curator

person appointed to settle financial affairs

прыёмнік

electronic device that receives and converts signal

It took the name Midland & South Western Junction in 1884 and reached Cheltenham, with its M.R. connection, in 1891; but poverty continued - a receiver had been appointed in 1884.

1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 585:

A person or company appointed to settle the affairs of an insolvent entity.

(chemistry) A vessel for receiving and holding the products of distillation, or for containing gases.

gabhdán

(chemistry) vessel for receiving and holding the products of distillation, or for containing gases

(firearms) The part of a firearm containing the action.

The part of a telephone handset contained in the earpiece; (hence) the handset itself; an earpiece.

(finance) A swaption which gives its holder the option to enter into a swap in which they pay the floating leg and receive the fixed leg.


NCO

Number Controlled Oscillator
Number Controlled Oscillator#English

(electronics) Initialism of Number Controlled Oscillator.


glare

glare (countable and uncountable, plural glares)

From Middle English glaren, from Old English glærian, from Proto-West Germanic *glāʀōn. Cognate with dialectal Middle Dutch glariën (“to glisten; sparkle”), Low German glaren (“to shine brightly; glow; burn”), Middle High German glaren (“to shine brightly”). Related to glower, glass.

cog

(telephony) A call collision; the situation where an incoming call occurs at the same time as an outgoing call.


modulate

en-verb

modulate (third-person singular simple present modulates, present participle modulating, simple past and past participle modulated)

modulates (present singular third-person)
modulating (participle present)
modulated (participle past)
modulated (past)

/ˈmɑː.d͡ʒəˌleɪt/

From Latin modulor (“to measure, regulate, modulate”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), from modulus (“measure”); see modulus. Compare module. By surface analysis, modul(e) + -ate.

af

(transitive) To regulate, adjust or adapt

(transitive, electronics) to vary the amplitude, frequency or phase of a carrier wave in proportion to the amplitude etc of a source wave (such as speech or music)


amplification

en-noun

amplification (countable and uncountable, plural amplifications)

From Latin amplificātiō, from amplificō (“I amplify”); see amplify.
Etymology tree
Latin amplus
Latin -ficō
Latin amplificō
Latin -tiō
Latin amplificātiōlbor.
English amplification


transistor

Blend of transfer + resistor. Said to have been coined by American engineer John Robinson Pierce in 1947.

coinage

(semiconductors) A solid-state semiconductor device, with three terminals, which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation, and many other functions.


STP

en-noun

STP (countable and uncountable, plural STPs)

shielded twisted pair
shielded twisted pair#English

(electronics) Initialism of shielded twisted pair.


ringtone

So even if the primary purpose of a ringtone is to notify the user of an incoming call, the effect of a ringtone played in public cannot be ignored if the reason users choose ringtones is, in part, in order to impress others .

2004, The Entertainment and Sports Lawyer; Volume 22:

This actually downloads the ringtone onto your handheld and displays a screen allowing you to save it, shown in Figure 8.12.

2005, Bill Foust, Mobile Guide to BlackBerry, page 121121:

There's only music so that there's new ringtones

2006, Alex Turner (lyrics and music), “A Certain Romance”, in Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, performed by Arctic Monkeys:

Using simple audio tools in the iTunes program, you could buy a song for $1, choose a 30-second chunk, pay $1 more for the ringtone, and sync the result to your iPhone.

2012, David Pogue, iPhone: The Missing Manual, page 152:

My boy's got his own ringtone / It's the only one I know, it's the only one I know

2019, 100 gecs (lyrics and music), “ringtone”, in 1000 gecs:

A customizable tone used to indicate an incoming call on a telephone, especially a mobile phone.


VFD

(electronics) Initialism of vacuum fluorescent display.

(electronics) Initialism of variable-frequency drive.


debug

en-verb

debug (third-person singular simple present debugs, present participle debugging, simple past and past participle debugged)

debugs (present singular third-person)
debugging (participle present)
debugged (participle past)
debugged (past)

Typical fees: $75 to check a particular telephone, $125 to debug one room, $500 to debug a suite of offices— all plus expenses and transportation.

1969, John Millar Carroll, The Third Listener: Personal Electronic Espionage, page 30:

It conducts background investigations of new CIA employees and CIA contractors, administers polygraph tests to employees and agents, debugs offices at Langley and overseas stations, patrols the buildings and grounds, protects the director and other key CIA officials, and investigates security problems.

2012, Ronald Kessler, Inside the CIA, page 172:

It is good to acquire information about how to perform the debugging operation and the type of tools that will be used, from which you may already have an idea of the technical and instrumental skills, having acquired a plenty of technical information after reading this chapter.

2013, F. Garzia, Handbook of Communications Security, page 620:

(electronics) To remove a hidden electronic surveillance device from (somewhere).

拆除竊聽器

to remove a hidden electronic surveillance device


ERA

en-noun

ERA (countable and uncountable, plural ERAs)

(electronics) Initialism of electrically reconfigurable array.


layout

→ German: Layout

→ Dutch: lay-out

→ Polish: layout

→ Portuguese: layout

→ Russian: лейаут (lejaut)

→ Swedish: layout

(electronics) A specification of an integrated circuit showing the position of the physical components that will implement the schematic in silicon.


SOA

SOA (countable and uncountable, plural SOAs)

semiconductor optical amplifier
semiconductor optical amplifier#English

(electronics) Initialism of semiconductor optical amplifier, a device that amplifies an optical signal directly.

semiconductor optical amplifier

safe operating area
safe operating area#English

(electronics) Initialism of safe operating area, the current conditions over which a device can be expected to operate without self-damage.


cellular

From New Latin cellulāris, from cellula (“cell”) + -āris.

MULDER: Yeah, Eddie, this is all good stuff. Yeah, see what else you can find on him from the N.C.I.C. and call me back. At, at this number or on my cellular.

1994, "Red Museum", (episode of The X-Files TV series)

(US, informal) A cellular phone (mobile phone).


implementation

implementation (countable and uncountable, plural implementations)

By surface analysis, implement + -ation.

His implementation works, but it needs some fine-tuning.

(electronics) A result of implementing something; a finished product, system or device.


SSL

(electronics) Initialism of Start-Stop Logic.


clamp

From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe (“a clamp, hook”), from Proto-Germanic *klampō (“clamp, clasp, cramp”), related to Proto-West Germanic *klammjan.
Cognate with Middle Low German klampe (“hook, clasp”), German Klampfe, Klampe (“clamp, cleat”), Norwegian klamp (“clamp”), Alemannic German Chlempi.

cog

(electronics) An electronic circuit that fixes either the positive or the negative peak excursions of a signal to a defined value by shifting its DC value.


hunting

en-noun

hunting (countable and uncountable, plural huntings)

desc

→ Korean: 헌팅 (heonting, “flirting with strangers, pickup”)

From Middle English hunting, from Old English huntung, equivalent to hunt + -ing.

(telephony) The process of determining which of a group of telephone lines will receive a call.


cat's whisker

(electronics) The wire that touches the crystal in a crystal radio.


copro

Oddly enough, a copro in a 286 is slower than one in an XT, due to the connections.

2001, Phil Croucher, The BIOS Companion, page 48:

(computer hardware, informal) Clipping of coprocessor.


collector

From Middle English collectour, from Anglo-Norman collectour, from Late Latin collector, from Latin colligō (“to gather together”).

инкасатор

person who is employed to collect payments

(electronics) The amplified terminal on a bipolar junction transistor.


Android

(computing, mobile telephony) A mobile operating system currently developed by Google.


Android

Both Androids and iPhones have a timer that can delay taking a photo by up to 10 seconds.

2016, Technology Made Easy: Simple Ways to Use Your Computer, Phone, and Other Electronic Devices, Peachtree City, Ga.: FC&A Publishing, →ISBN, page 317:

(computing, mobile telephony) A mobile phone running on Android OS.


DSL

Fill your gut to a comfortable level, and the LPA tells your brain to drop the fork. Trouble is, it delivers that information at dial-up speed in a DSL world.

2008 October, David Schipper, “Outsmart your stomach: Seven ways to fill your gut—and lose it, too”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 135:

digital subscriber line
digital subscriber line#English

(electronics) Initialism of digital subscriber line.


Apple

en-proper noun

Apple (countable and uncountable, plural Apples)

From apple. As a surname, also an Americanized form of Appel or Apfel.

(rare, countable) A female given name from English.


TC

(electronics) Initialism of time counter.

(electronics) Initialism of thermocouple.


electromechanical computer

en-noun

electromechanical computer (plural electromechanical computers)

In 1937, Howard Aiken, a mathematician at Harvard University, developed the idea for a general-purpose electromechanical computer, the Harvard Mark I.

(computer hardware) An early type of computer that used electromagnetic relays.


Nokia

A town and municipality of Finland near Tampere.


D

D (countable and uncountable, plural Ds)


blivet

Unknown; seems to have been coined by American soldiers in World War Two.

(electronics) An electronic signal that is normally high or on, but goes low for a very short period and then returns to high. A low going spike.


TCAP

TCAP (countable and uncountable, plural TCAPs)

(telephony) Transaction Capabilities Application Part (SS7)


Q

Q (countable and uncountable, plural Qs)

(electronics) Short for Q factor (“quality factor”).


tweeter

(electronics) An electronic speaker designed to produce high-frequency sound.


DCH

(communication, electronics) Initialism of dedicated channel (in UMTS).


FW

Alternative form: f/w

(computer hardware, software) Abbreviation of firmware.


PD

PD (countable and uncountable, plural PDs)

(electronics) Initialism of phase detector.

(electronics) Initialism of power delivery.


AAL

AAL (countable and uncountable, plural AALs)

(electronics) Initialism of asynchronous transfer mode adaptation layer; ATM adaptation layer.


gimmick

Unknown. Possibly a rough anagram of magic or from gimme.


NDC

(electronics) Initialism of negative differential conductance.


VHF

The FCC says it decided to attempt standardization of VHF receivers after getting "thousands of complaints" from disgruntled boatmen who found their sets brought in mostly a lot of garble and static.

1976, Boating (volume 40, numbers 1-2, page 152)

VHF radio

very high frequency
very high frequency#English

(electronics) Initialism of very high frequency.


UTP

(electronics) unshielded twisted pair — a type of cable used for computer networking and telecommunications


avionics

(aviation) The science and technology of the development and use of electrical and electronic devices in aviation.

avionica

the science and technology of the development and use of electrical and electronic devices in aviation

(aviation) The devices used in avionics.


EC

EC (countable and uncountable, plural ECs)

(electronics) Initialism of edge combiner.


WORM

write once, read many
write once, read many#English

(computing, computer hardware) Initialism of write once, read many.


WP

(mobile telephony) Initialism of Windows Phone.


BCD

binary-coded decimal
binary-coded decimal#English

(computing, electronics) Initialism of binary-coded decimal.


PROM

Programmable read-only memory
programmable read-only memory#English

(electronics) Programmable read-only memory: A PROM chip can be programmed one or more times (depending on the type) and generally cannot be re-programmed without special equipment (if at all). Once programmed and installed in a device, it functions as a read-only chip (as if it had been hard-wired to function that way.)


DRC

design rule check
design rule check#English

(electronics) Initialism of design rule check.


UC

UC (countable and uncountable, plural UCs)

(mobile telephony) Initialism of ultra capacity.


DDS

DDS (countable and uncountable, plural DDSs or DDSes)

(electronics) Initialism of direct digital synthesis.


NCAP

NCAP (countable and uncountable, plural NCAPs)

(electronics) Initialism of nematic curvilinear aligned phase.


HDL

hardware description language
hardware description language#English

(electronics) Initialism of hardware description language.

DTD

electronics: initialism of Hardware Description Language


ECL

emitter-coupled logic
emitter-coupled logic#English

(electronics) Initialism of emitter-coupled logic.


ICT

ICT (countable and uncountable, plural ICTs)

(countable, electronics) Initialism of In-Circuit Test.

2012, Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council
In order to speed up the decision-making process, national standardisation bodies and European standardisation organisations should facilitate accessible information on their activities through the promotion of the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in their respective standardisation systems, for example by providing to all relevant stakeholders an easy-to-use online consultation mechanism for the submission of comments on draft standards and by organising virtual meetings, including by means of web conferencing or video conferencing, of technical committees.

2014, "No end to ICT skills crunch" by Lance Harris, published on itweb.co.za
The total number of students that enrolled for these courses has grown only slightly and the marginal increase of graduates does not match the growth rate of the ICT industry.
Graduates with ICT qualifications, senior managers and especially mid-career professionals are all still in short supply across a range of disciplines and market segments.

information and communications technology#English

(uncountable, electronics, communication) Initialism of Information and Communications Technology.

ՏՀՏ

Initialism of information and communications technology


hi-fi

hi-fi (countable and uncountable, plural hi-fis)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hi-fi.wav

(countable) An electronic device used to play recorded sound, especially music.


ACS

ACS (countable and uncountable, plural ACSs)

(communication, electronics) Initialism of adjacent channel selectivity.


LW

LW (countable and uncountable, plural LWs)


IPS

in-plane switching
in-plane switching#English

(electronics) Initialism of in-plane switching (“LCD screen technology”).


LF

LF (countable and uncountable, plural LFs)

(electronics, telecommunications) Initialism of low frequency.


STA

(electronics) Initialism of static timing analysis (of a digital circuit)


capstan

Borrowed into Middle English from either Old French cabestan, from Old Occitan cabestan, from cabestre (“pulley cord”) or from Spanish cabestran, both of which derive from Latin capistrum (“halter”), from capiō (“take hold of”).

capstan (nautical)
capstan (tape recorder)

pawl the capstan

to drop the pawl so that they will catch in the notches of the pawl ring

and prevent the capstan from turning back

(electronics) A rotating spindle used to move recording tape through the mechanism of a tape recorder.


PES

IEEE Power Engineering Society
w:IEEE Power Engineering Society

(electronics) Initialism of IEEE Power Engineering Society.


CAS

CAS (countable and uncountable, plural CASes)

(electronics, communication) Initialism of channel-associated signalling.


TID

(electronics) Initialism of time-interval digitizer.


OTP

(electronics) Initialism of one-time programmable.


rx

(uncountable, electronics, telecommunications) Abbreviation of reception.


Rx

(uncountable, electronics, telecommunications) Alternative form of rx (“reception”)


tx

Alternative form: Tx

(uncountable, electronics, telecommunications) Abbreviation of transmission.


tape recorder

→ Afrikaans: bandopnemer (calque)

desc

টেপ রেকর্ডার

→ Bengali: টেপ রেকর্ডার (ṭep rekorḍar)

टेप रिकॉर्डर

→ Hindi: टेप रिकॉर्डर (ṭep rikŏrḍar)

→ Dutch: bandopnemer (calque); → bandrecorder (calque)

→ Japanese: テープレコーダー (tēpurekōdā)

→ Korean: 테이프 레코더 (teipeu rekodeo)

→ Pashto: ټېپ ريکارډر (ṭep-rikārḍár)

→ Tok Pisin: teprikoda

→ Urdu: ٹیپ ریکارڈر (ṭep rikārḍar)

A cabled despatch is better than nothing, but a voicecast of tolerable quality is preferable, and in certain types of story a voicecast with live or recorded actuality is best of all. Correspondents all have portable tape recorders.

1964, European Broadcasting Union, EBU Review: Programmes, Administration, Law, volume 83, page 22:

(sound engineering) An electromechanical device use to record and play back sound, etc.

bandopnemer

an electromechanical device use to record and play back sound


integrated circuit

en-noun

integrated circuit (plural integrated circuits)

(semiconductors) A thin chip, usually of silicon, consisting of at least two interconnected semiconductor devices, mainly transistors.

ഇന്റഗ്രേറ്റഡ് സർക്യൂട്ട്

inṟagrēṟṟaḍŭ saṟkyūṭṭŭ


PGA

(electronics) Initialism of pin grid array, a type of integrated circuit package, describing the electrical connections to circuit boards on which such a package is mounted.


yellow pages

From such directories being printed on yellow paper.

A telephone directory that lists commercial organizations, organized by type of organization.

黃頁

telephone directory that lists commercial organisations


telegraph post

From their original purpose of carrying telegraph lines, first used around 1843 by William Fothergill Cooke.

Here the protection consists of a 50lb per mile cadmium copper trip-wire mounted on short telegraph posts on both sides of the line, 4ft above rail level.

1961 November, “Talking of Trains: Aircraft on rail tracks”, in Trains Illustrated, page 650:

A pole, usually wooden, that carries telephone lines above a street.


telegraphy

telegraphy (usually uncountable, plural telegraphies)

/təˈlɛɡɹəfi/

/təˈlɛɡɹəfi/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-telegraphy.wav

From telegraph + -y (suffix forming abstract nouns), q.v., equivalent to tele- (“far, distant, telegraph”) + -graphy (“writings on a subject, area of study, etc.”).

confix

Any process for transmitting arbitrarily long messages over a long distance using a code, especially by means of electrified wires or radio waves using Morse code.

The science and techniques used to enact this process.

The devices and networks used to enact this process.


TI

en-noun

TI (countable and uncountable, plural TIs)

(electronics) Initialism of time interval.


telephone booth

telephone booth (plural telephone booths)

Then it occurred to me that I might be doing a rash thing in going off to an unknown house in a seedy suburb. So I went into a public telephone-booth, rang up the Club, and told the porter that if Colonel Arbuthnot called, I was at 4 Palmyra Square, N.W.—I made him write down the address—and would be back before ten o'clock.

1924 July, John Buchan, “The House in Gospel Oak”, in The Three Hostages, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, page 85:

A small enclosure housing a public telephone.


telephone exchange

telephone exchange (plural telephone exchanges)

(telephony) Any equipment that establishes connections between telephones.

(telephony) The rooms housing such equipment.


telephone operator

telephone operator (plural telephone operators)

Since the outbreak of war women have been recruited for many grades of railway work. The number of women clerks has been increased greatly, and women are performing invaluable work as porters, motor drivers, carriage cleaners, and telephone operators, as well as in a variety of other capacities.

1942 July-August, T. F. Cameron, “How the Staff of a Railway is Recruited”, in Railway Magazine, page 207:

A person who operates a telephone switchboard.

telefonista

a person who operates a telephone switchboard


telephone directory

telephone directory (plural telephone directories)

A listing of telephone subscribers in a specific geographical area, together with their telephone numbers and, sometimes, a street address.


telephone call

A connection established over a telephone network between two parties.


sensitivity

sensitivity (countable and uncountable, plural sensitivities)

чуллі́васць

the ability of an organism or organ to respond to external stimuli

Up to 1,884 microplastic particles were found per cubic metre of seawater in some locations, up to 18 times higher than in similar tests during the last Ocean Race, which ended in 2018. Scientists noted that the sensitivity of their instruments is now higher.

2023 June 5, Yvonne Gordon, “Microplastics found in every sample of water taken during Ocean Race”, in The Guardian:

(electronics) The degree of response of an instrument to a change in an input signal.

чувстви́телност

(electronics) degree of response of an instrument to a change in an input signal


add-on

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-add-on.wav

Microdrives that can hold several gigabytes (see Figure 2.20) have been available as add-ons for portable devices.

2010, Kenneth Baldauf, Ralph Stair, Succeeding with Technology, page 77:

(computer hardware, software) A software extension or hardware peripheral that provides additional functions or customization for a core application or system.


DDR

DDR (countable and uncountable, plural DDRs)

(electronics) Initialism of double data rate.


SSR

(electronics) Initialism of solid-state relay.


rectifier

power inverter

antonym(s) of “a device that converts AC electricity to DC”

/ˈɹɛktɪfaɪɚ/

/ˈɹɛktɪfaɪə/

A device that converts alternating current into direct current; often a diode.

токоизправител

a device that converts alternating current into direct current

(nautical) An instrument used for determining and rectifying the variations of the compass on board ship.

(artificial neural networks) The activation function f(x)= max (0,x), where x is the input to a neuron.


rectify

en-verb

rectify (third-person singular simple present rectifies, present participle rectifying, simple past and past participle rectified)

rectifies (present singular third-person)
rectifying (participle present)
rectified (participle past)
rectified (past)

/ˈɹɛktəˌfaɪ/

From Middle English rectifien, from Anglo-Norman rectifiier, rectefier (“to make straight”), from Medieval Latin rēctificō (“to make right”), from Latin rēctus (“straight”).

der

(transitive, electronics) To convert (alternating current) into direct current.

изправям

to convert alternating current into direct current


Ameche

After Don Ameche, who played Alexander Graham Bell in a 1939 film.

Alexander Graham Bell
Don Ameche
en:The Story of Alexander Graham Bell


home computer

Coordinate term: personal computer

This last section is meant to draw your attention to a further sphere of potential use for your home computer, namely letting it monitor and control some activity directly, without your own participation […]

1983, Using Your Home Computer, Macmillan International Higher Education, →ISBN, page 80:

(computer hardware, dated) A computer intended for use in the home.


locked

(mobile telephony, of a phone) Bound to a carrier.


enable

en-verb

enable (third-person singular simple present enables, present participle enabling, simple past and past participle enabled)

enables (present singular third-person)
enabling (participle present)
enabled (participle past)
enabled (past)

From Middle English enablen, equivalent to en- + able.

давам възможност

to give power, sanction or authorization to; to provide with abilities, means, opportunities

umožnit

to allow a way out or excuse for an action

(electronics) To put a circuit element into action by supplying a suitable input pulse.

(chiefly electronics, computing) To activate, to make operational (especially of a function of an electronic or mechanical device).

aanskakel

to activate a function of an electronic or mechanical device


app

A visual tool can be thought of as a graphics app that generates most of your program's GUI code for you

1999 February, Maximum PC, volume 4, number 2:

So is a spreadsheet app, but I'm not going to put those on a web site any time soon.

1999, Jerry Bradenbaugh, JavaScript application cookbook, page xi:

The Web browser was the killer app that kickstarted the Internet and, in turn, enabled it to be embedded in everything

1999 November, AUUGN, volume 20, number 4, page 9:

Want realtime flight and gate updates? A calorie counter? A remote for your DVD player? Chances are there's an app for it. Smartphones separate themselves in another key area: connectivity

2005 May, Popular Science, volume 266, number 5, page 78:

(computing, mobile telephony) An application (program), especially a small one designed for a mobile device.


radiator

→ Gulf Arabic: راديتر (rādētar)

/ˈrædɪeɪ̯tə/

From radiate + -or. Doublet of radiatori.


DL

en-noun

DL (countable and uncountable, plural DLs)

Coordinate term: NL


IF

IF (countable and uncountable, plural IFs)

intermediate frequency
intermediate frequency#English

(electronics) Initialism of intermediate frequency.


pulse dialing

(US, telephony) A system of telephone dialing in which each digit is transmitted as the equivalent number of pulses.


touch-tone dialing

(US, telephony) A system of telephone dialing in which each digit is transmitted as a tone or combination of tones of specific pitch.


gender changer

(electronics) A coupling device that allows two male or two female connectors to be joined together.


floppy drive

A computer hardware device used for reading and writing on removable floppy disks, such as 3+¹⁄₂″, 5+¹⁄₄″ or 8″ diskettes.


flash drive

So called because it is a storage device that uses flash memory.

(computer hardware) A small electronic device used to store digital data, more portable and robust than a hard drive.

قُرْص وَامِض m (qurṣ wāmiḍ) (a literal translation prescribed by some purists, though virtually unused)

Flash-Laufwerk

a literal one, not the usual term for a USB stick


logic analyzer

A device used to test and diagnose digital electronic systems.


thyristor

Blend of thyratron (1930) + transistor (1947). First attested c. 1965, as an alternative name for the Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR) developed in the late 1950s.

blend

In calling it a "Thyristor", Mr. Warder was following a growing practice which takes account of the fact that in years to come the controlled rectifier may be made of other materials than silicon.

1963 November, “A "Second Generation" in traction”, in Modern Railways, page 290:

Figure 1.4 shows a modern thyristor encapsulated in a presspack housing and Figure 1.5 illustrates a typical interdigitated gate geometry in a high-power thyristor; the black areas indicate silicon ( Si0₂ ) and the white areas the Al metallisation.

1998, J. Arrillaga, High Voltage Direct Current Transmission, page 6:

(electronics) A semiconductor diode having an extra "gate" terminal to switch it on.


varistor

/vɛəˈɹɪstə(ɹ)/

(electronics) An electronic component having a variable resistance; used to protect circuits against power surges.

varistori

electronic component with variable resistance


printed circuit board

en-noun

printed circuit board (plural printed circuit boards)

(electronics) A flat board that holds chips and other electronic components in layers that interconnect via copper pathways, often called traces.


hard drive

(computing, computer hardware) An electromechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid, rapidly rotating platters coated with magnetic material.

hardeskyf

device used for storing large amounts of data

ഹാർഡ് ഡിസ്ക് ഡ്രൈവ്

hāṟḍŭ ḍiskŭ ḍraivŭ


microprocessor

When the microprocessor decodes the JSR opcode, it stores the operand into the TEMP register and pushes the current contents of the PC ($00 0128) onto the stack.

1992, Michael A. Miller, The 68000 Microprocessor Family: Architecture, Programming, and Applications, page 47:

When you think of current microprocessors (μPs), the Intel Itanium processor with 592 million transistors may come to mind. […] Clearly today's FPGAs will not be able to implement such a top-of-the-range μP with a single FPGA.

2007, Uwe Meyer-Baese, “Microprocessor Design”, in Digital Signal Processing with Field Programmable Gate Arrays, 3rd edition, Berlin: Springer Science+Business Media, →ISBN, page 537:

(computer hardware) The entire CPU of a computer on a single integrated circuit (chip).


ground out

en-verb

ground out (third-person singular simple present grounds out, present participle grounding out, simple past and past participle grounded out)

grounds out (present singular third-person)
grounding out (participle present)
grounded out (participle past)
grounded out (past)

(electronics) To provide proper grounding for a circuit.


resonance

en-noun

resonance (countable and uncountable, plural resonances)

From Old French resonance (French résonance), from Latin resonantia (“echo”), from resonō (“I resound”).

(electronics) The condition where the inductive and capacitive reactances have equal magnitude.


amplifier

(electronics) An appliance or circuit that increases the strength of a weak electrical signal without changing the other characteristics of the signal.


double talk

From double + talk. Compare Middle English twispeche, Old English twīspǣċ, twīsprǣċ.

(telephony) A situation when two people talk at the same time, causing overlapping audio signals.


EMI

EMI (countable and uncountable, plural EMIs)

external memory interface
w:external memory interface

(computer hardware) Initialism of external memory interface.


mixer

→ Dutch: mixer

→ French: mixer

→ Polish: mikser

→ Romanian: mixer

desc

→ Russian: ми́ксер (míkser), ми́кшер (míkšer)

→ Turkish: mikser, mixer

(electronics) A nonlinear electrical circuit that creates new frequencies from two signals applied to it.


IDE

en-noun

IDE (countable and uncountable, plural IDEs)

(electronics, uncountable) Initialism of integrated drive electronics.


telephony

telephony (usually uncountable, plural telephonies)

The act of sound transmission via the electromagnetic spectrum.


parasitic

[ˌpɛɹ.əˈsɪɾ.ɪk]

[ˌpæɹ.əˈsɪɾ.ɪk]

(electronics) A component of a circuit that does not show up in a circuit's schematic but does show up in the circuit's behavior.


suppress

en-verb

suppress (third-person singular simple present suppresses, present participle suppressing, simple past and past participle suppressed)

suppresses (present singular third-person)
suppressing (participle present)
suppressed (participle past)
suppressed (past)

From Latin suppressus, perfect passive participle of supprimō (“press down or under”), from sub (“under”) + premō (“press”).

(electronics) To reduce unwanted frequencies in a signal.

потискам

electronics: to reduce unwanted frequencies


tant

Note that like 'tants' these are polarized and must be connected to the circuit the right way round, the lead marked 'H' to the positive side of the circuit; failure to do so can lead to a small explosion!

2013, Michael J. Spinks, Microprocessor System Design: A Practical Introduction, page 32:

(slang, electronics) A tantalum capacitor.


relay

From Middle French relai (“reserve pack of hounds”), from relaier (“to exchange tired animals for fresh”); literally, "to leave behind", from Old French relaier (“to leave behind”), from re- + laier (“to leave”), of uncertain origin.

смяна

a new set of anything that can be used to relieve the existing set when worn out

váltó

competition between teams where members of a team take turns completing parts of a course or performing a certain action — see also relay race

(electronics) An electrical actuator that allows a relatively small electrical voltage or current to control a larger voltage or current.


unlocked

an unlocked iPhone

(mobile telephony, of a phone) Not bound to any particular carrier.


sector

Sector (Star Trek)
Sector (instrument)
sector

Coordinate term: block

(computer hardware) A fixed-sized unit (traditionally 512 bytes) of sequential data stored on a track of a digital medium.

قِطَاع

fixed-sized unit of sequential data storage


dynamic headroom

(electronics) The ability of an amplifier to handle strong signals (or loud sounds) free from distortion.


headroom

en-noun

headroom (countable and uncountable, plural headrooms)

[…] the difference between signal-to-noise ratio and overload reserve (headroom) as well as noise (safety) margin (footroom).

2000, Wolfgang Ahnert, Frank Steffen, Sound Reinforcement Engineering: Fundamentals and Practice, page 177:

(electronics) The ability of a system to reproduce loud sounds free of distortion; dynamic headroom.


GPRS

General Packet Radio Service
General Packet Radio Service#English

(mobile telephony) Initialism of General Packet Radio Service.


SIMM

(computer hardware) initialism of Single in-line memory module


SPD

SPD (countable and uncountable, plural SPDs)

surge protective device
surge protective device#English

(electronics) Initialism of surge protective device (surge protector).


tone dialing

(US, telephony) A system of telephone dialing in which each digit is transmitted as a burst of a single audio frequency.


autodialer

(computing) malicious software, embedded in a website, that routes dial-up Internet connections to a different telephone number charged at a premium rate


MW

MW (countable and uncountable, plural MWs)

(electronics) Initialism of medium wave.


avionic

(aviation) of, or relating to avionics (aviation electronics)


write once

(computing, computer hardware) Of a type of storage technology in which data, once written, cannot be erased or modified.


jingle

/ˈd͡ʒɪŋɡ(ə)l/

The verb, which is older than the noun, is from Middle English gyngle. Onomatopoeic; compare jangle.

Give me a jingle when you find out something.


voicemail

voicemail (countable and uncountable, plural voicemails)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-voicemail.wav

From voice + mail, genericized trademark.

(uncountable) A computerized interactive system for storing, processing and reproducing verbal messages left through a conventional telephone network.


camcorder

Blend of camera + recorder. Appears to be a borrowing from Japanese カムコーダー (kamukōdā), an original registered trademark filed for by Sony in 1981. First use appears c. 1982 in The Economist.

ja-r

カムコーダー (kamukōdā)

You know where you never see a camcorder? At a funeral. Wouldn't that be fun? Especially if you didn't know any of the people there. Why not go to a stranger's funeral, and bring your camcorder? Have a little fun! Zoom in on the corpse's nose hairs. Then pull back, and pan over to the widow's tears. Get a tight shot of that. Do a montage of people wracked with grief. Then go home and put a laugh track on it! Smoke a joint and show it to your friends. That would be a lot of fun.

1997, George Carlin, Brain Droppings, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 173:

A camera recorder: a portable electronic device for recording images and audio on to a storage device, hence functioning as a camera and a recorder in a single unit.


SSI

en-noun

SSI (countable and uncountable, plural SSIs)

Small Scale Integration
Small Scale Integration#English

(electronics) Initialism of Small Scale Integration.


DIP

DIP (countable and uncountable, plural DIPs)

dual in-line package
w:dual in-line package

(electronics) Acronym of dual in-line package.


SB

SB (countable and uncountable, plural SBs)


handsfree

a handsfree phone

That can be used without using the hands, hands-free.


anticathode

(electronics) The target at which electrons from the cathode in a CRT or x-ray tube are directed.

antykatoda

the target at which electrons from the cathode in a CRT or x-ray tube are directed


WSS

Wavelength Selective Switching
w:Wavelength Selective Switching

(electronics) Initialism of Wavelength Selective Switching.


WSS

Widescreen signaling
w:Widescreen signaling

(electronics) Initialism of Widescreen signaling.


HF

(electronics) Initialism of high frequency.


SSB

SSB (countable and uncountable, plural SSBs)

(electronics, communication) Initialism of single sideband, a type of radio emission.


EFF

(Internet, electronics, politics) Initialism of Electronic Frontier Foundation.


road map

→ French: roadmap

→ German: Roadmap

CPU speeds continue to increase with no end in sight. For instance, Sun's UltraSPARC processor roadmap, shown in Figure 16-2, show CPU speed increasing from 143 MHz in 1995 to 1.5 Ghz in 2002, roughly doubling every year as predicted by Moore's Law.

1999, Marc Hamilton, Software Development: Building Reliable Systems, Prentice Hall Professional, →ISBN, page 236:

In the software business, a product roadmap gives an overview how a product is going to develop over the strategic timeframe of up to 5 years in terms of new releases or versions, their schedules and major themes.

2008, Hans-Bernd Kittlaus, Peter N. Clough, Software Product Management and Pricing, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 77:

(originally computing, computer hardware) A structured representation of objects to display a development plan, used in business for strategic planning and communications.


BB

BB (countable and uncountable, plural BBs)


ADPLL

(electronics) Initialism of all-digital phase locked loop.


DPLL

phase-locked loop
phase-locked loop#English

(electronics) Initialism of digital phase-locked loop.


TWB

(electronics) Initialism of three-wire bus.


SMPS

(electronics) Initialism of switching mode power supply.


ACPR

(electronics) Initialism of adjacent channel power ratio.


UMTS

w:Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

(mobile telephony) Initialism of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.


DPRFP

(electronics) Initialism of direct Polar RF Power.

(electronics) Initialism of Direct Polar Radio Frequency Power.


ACI

(electronics) adjacent channel interference.


ALU

arithmetic logic unit
arithmetic logic unit

(computer hardware) arithmetic logic unit.


LDO

(electronics) Initialism of low drop out.


PAM

PAM (countable and uncountable, plural PAMs)

(electronics) Initialism of power amplitude modulation.


PAE

power added efficiency
power added efficiency#English

(electronics) Initialism of power added efficiency.


FEM

FEM (countable and uncountable, plural FEMs)

(electronics) Initialism of front end module.


break up

en-verb

break up (third-person singular simple present breaks up, present participle breaking up, simple past broke up, past participle broken up)

breaks up (present singular third-person)
breaking up (participle present)
broke up (past)
broken up (participle past)

You're breaking up. Can you repeat that?

what did you say? you're breaking up on me

2009, Lady Gaga et al. (lyrics and music), “Telephone”:

(intransitive, telecommunications) Of a conversation, to cease to be understandable because of a bad connection; of a signal, to deteriorate.

hävitä

of a telephone conversation, to cease to be understandable because of a bad connection


SMD

en-noun

SMD (countable and uncountable, plural SMDs)

surface-mount(ed) device
Surface-mount device#English

(electronics, countable) Initialism of surface-mount(ed) device.


SMD

(electronics) Initialism of solder mask defined.


(electronics) Asynchronous Transfer Mode Adaption Layer Type 2, ATM Adaption Layer Type 2.


(electronics) Initialism of Third Generation Partnership Project.


(electronics) Asynchronous Transfer Mode Adaption Layer Type 5, ATM Adaption Layer Type 5.


DLL

(electronics) Initialism of delay-locked loop.


TDC

(electronics) Initialism of time-to-digital converter.


ACCH

(electronics) Initialism of associated control channel.


HCLK

(electronics) Acronym of high-speed clock.


ACIR

(electronics) Initialism of adjacent channel interference ratio.


LO

local oscillator
local oscillator#English

(electronics) Initialism of local oscillator.


CMFB

(electronics) Initialism of common mode feedback.


PFD

(electronics) Initialism of phase-frequency detector.


PVT

PVT (countable and uncountable, plural PVTs)

(electronics) Initialism of pressure, volume, temperature.


coaxial cable

(electronics, telecommunications) A transmission line, consisting of a conducting wire surrounded by an insulated spacer, surrounded by a cylindrical conducting sheath; used to carry high frequency signals such as TV.


VDL

(electronics) Initialism of vernier delay line.

(electronics) Initialism of VHF Data Link.


ARF

(electronics) Initialism of analog radio frequency.


MOS

(electronics) Initialism of metal oxide semiconductor.


mouthpiece

A part of any device that functions in or near the mouth, especially:

The part of a telephone that is held close to the mouth.

The part of a wind instrument that is held in or against the mouth.

The novel's protagonist serves as a mouthpiece for the author's political views.

Seeming “real” has been the aim since the earliest police procedurals, which began a long tradition of Hollywood productions acting as a mouthpiece for police departments.

2021 April 24, Adrian Horton, “‘The uprisings opened up the door’: the TV cop shows confronting a harmful legacy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Xi Jinping has told the People’s Liberation Army to “focus all its energy on fighting” in preparation for war, a Chinese Communist party mouthpiece has reported.

2022 November 9, Verna Yu, “Xi Jinping tells China’s army to focus on preparation for war”, in The Guardian:

A spokesman; one who speaks on behalf of someone else.

глашатай

spokesman who speaks on behalf of someone else


NTIDS

named by the first inventor, R.Nutt in 1968, formerly named "Digital Time Intervall Meter"

(electronics) Initialism of Nutt time-interval digitizer.


coupling

coupling (countable and uncountable, plural couplings)

From Middle English couplynge; equivalent to couple + -ing.

(electronics) A connection between two electronic circuits such that a signal can pass between them.

耦合

(electronics) connection between two electronic circuits such that a signal can pass between them


VTID

(electronics) Initialism of vernier time-interval digitizer.


trigger

Originally tricker, from Dutch trekker (“pull”, noun, as in drawer-pull, bell-pull), from Dutch trekken (“to drag, draw, pull”).

laukaisin

music: electronic transducer allowing a percussion instrument to control an electronic device

(electronics) A pulse in an electronic circuit that initiates some component.


trigger

en-verb

trigger (third-person singular simple present triggers, present participle triggering, simple past and past participle triggered)

triggers (present singular third-person)
triggering (participle present)
triggered (participle past)
triggered (past)

→ German: triggern

Sodium nitrite (750 ppm) was added after the alarm triggered at three hours, and corrosion did not occur for over eight hours.

1997, Mill Operators' Conference, page 182:

(intransitive, especially electronics) To activate; to become active.

тригерирам

(intransitive, especially electronics) to activate; to become active

élesít

to make (e.g. an article) publicly available online


ACLR

(electronics) Initialism of adjacent channel leakage power ratio.


ISF

(electronics) Initialism of Impulse Sensitivity Function.


LNA

(electronics) Initialism of low noise amplifier.


RMS

en-noun

RMS (countable and uncountable, plural RMSes)

root mean square
root mean square#English

(electronics, statistics) Initialism of root mean square.


dongle

Unknown. Likely a descendant of dangle, reflecting that electronic accessories such as computer peripherals often are plugged in via a flexible cable (although wirelessness is also often relevant). Claims that the word comes from a man named "Don Gall" were made up by an advertisement. First usage 1980-1985.

FreedomPop will offer three different flavors of broadband: a USB dongle that allows you to connect your computer to the internet, a WiFi hotspot device, and an iPhone case that allows you to override the phone's existing network and use it as a FreedomPop hotspot.

2012, Tecca, FreedomPop offering 1GB of free wireless data, hopes you’ll pay for more, via Yahoo! Tech, link:

(computer hardware) Any small device that plugs into an electronic device, typically a computer, and alters its functionality. Common examples include wireless modems, digital media players, software copy protect devices, and adapters.

Take the dongle, for example. It is the summit of copy protection, an explicit melding of software and hardware. Without the right hardware key—the dongle—plugged into the machine's parallel port, the software won't run.

1997 April 1, David McCandless, “Warez Wars”, in Wired, →ISSN:

(computer hardware) A hardware device used by a specific application for purposes of copy protection.

motxilla

A hardware device utilized by a specific application for purposes of copy protection


hang up

en-verb

hang up (third-person singular simple present hangs up, present participle hanging up, simple past and past participle hung up)

hangs up (present singular third-person)
hanging up (participle present)
hung up (participle past)
hung up (past)

When my mother started telling me to be careful over the phone, I threatened to hang up on her.

And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me.

1974, Harry Chapin and Sandra Chapin (lyrics and music), “Cat's in the Cradle”, in Verities & Balderdash, performed by Harry Chapin:

(intransitive, idiomatic) To terminate a telephone call, originally by hanging the receiver on its hook or cradle thereby automatically disconnecting the line.

挂断

電話／电话 (diànhuà)


peripheral

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *per-der.
Ancient Greek περί (perí)
Ancient Greek περῐ- (peri-)
Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-
Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti
Proto-Hellenic *pʰérō
Ancient Greek φέρω (phérō)
Ancient Greek περιφέρω (periphérō)
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *-ēs
Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs)
Ancient Greek περιφερής (peripherḗs)
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂der.
Ancient Greek -ια (-ia)
Ancient Greek περιφέρεια (periphéreia)bor.
Latin peripheriabor.
Middle French peripheriebor.
English periphery
Proto-Italic *-ālis
Latin -ālisbor.
Old French -albor.
Latin -ālis
Old French -elbor.
Latin -ālisbor.
Middle English -al
English -al
English peripheral
From peripher(y) + -al.

etymon

Check your peripheral's manual for the information you'll need.

1984, Human Connection, Making MS-DOS & PC-DOS work for you:

Check your peripheral's owners' manual to see at what speed your peripheral transmits or receives information, and then record this on the DIP Switch Information chart in the column at the left.

1986, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

Turn on the Mac, and check your peripheral. Since you've already installed your device driver, it should be available where you need it....

1994, Steve Birchall, Upgrading and repairing Macs:


RBW

(electronics) Abbreviation of resolution bandwidth.


SOC

en-noun

SOC (countable and uncountable, plural SOCs)

(electronics) Initialism of system on a chip.


HS-PDSCH

(communication, electronics) Initialism of High Speed Physical Downlink Shared Channel (in UMTS).


DPDCH

(communication, electronics) Initialism of dedicated physical data channel.


HS-SCCH

(communication, electronics) Initialism of High Speed Shared Control Channel (in UMTS).


HSCSD

Highspeed Circuit Switched Data
Highspeed Circuit Switched Data#English

(communication, electronics) Initialism of Highspeed Circuit Switched Data (2.5G).


DPCCH

(communication, electronics) Abbreviation of dedicated physical control channel.


HSUPA

High Speed Uplink Packet Access
w:High Speed Uplink Packet Access

(communication, electronics) Initialism of High Speed Uplink Packet Access (in UMTS).


DPCH

(communication, electronics) Acronym of dedicated physical channel.


HS-DSCH

(communication, electronics) High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (in UMTS).


EVM

error vector magnitude
w:error vector magnitude

(electronics) Initialism of error vector magnitude.


CQI

(communication, electronics, initialism) Channel quality indicator.


FDR

FDR (countable and uncountable, plural FDRs)

(communication, electronics) Initialism of false transmit format detection ratio (in UMTS).


ripple

(electronics) A small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal.


stage-phoner

One who fakes a cell-phone conversation.


silicon photonics

Here's a better way: replace the copper with optical fiber and the electrons with photons. That's the promise of silicon photonics: affordable optical communications for everything. It will let manufacturers build optical components using the same semiconductor equipment and methods they use now for ordinary integrated circuits, thereby dramatically lowering the cost of photonics.

2005 October 14, Mario Paniccia, Sean Koehl, “The Silicon Solution”, in IEEE Spectrum, archived from the original on 2006-02-19:

The technology discipline related to production of optical switching electronic devices using integrated circuit manufacturing technology


pecker

From Middle English pekker, equivalent to peck (“to pick at something in the manner of a bird”) + -er (“forming agent nouns”).

af

Click, click, click, the pecker is at work.

1858 June 13, H.C.F. Jenkin, letter in Papers (1887), volume I, page lxxxvi:

Pecker, the small cylindrical pin which rises and falls in scanning the holes punched in a slip corresponding to the coding of the message.

1940, Chambers's Technical Dictionary, 621/1:

Someone who or something that pecks, striking or piercing in the manner of a bird's beak or bill, particularly:

(uncommon) Any machine or machine part moving in a pecking fashion, particularly:

(telegraphy, historical) A kind of V-shaped telegraphic relay.


ZOH

(electronics) Initialism of zero-order hold.


FOH

first-order hold
first-order hold#English

(electronics) Initialism of first-order hold.


MOT

(electronics) microwave oven transformer


CORDIC

(electronics) Acronym of coordinate rotation digital computer.


GPU

graphics processing unit
graphics processing unit#English

electronic circuit
electronic circuit#English

(computer hardware) Initialism of graphics processing unit (an electronic circuit dedicated to generating graphics and displaying images).


recorder

Recorder (musical instrument)
recorder (disambiguation)

From Middle English recorder, from record (“to practice (music)”); ultimately cognate with Etymology 1.

/ɹiˈkɔɹ.dəɹ/

Recorders are made in various sizes, from the high soprano or descant recorder to the low bass recorder.

Indeed he hath played on his prologue like a child on a recorder; a sound, but not in government.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

[…] he beheld
The city fronted with bright fires, and heard
Pipes, and recorders, and the hum of war;

1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book 10.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 242, lines 12-14:

On his [Hamlet’s] taking the recorders—very like a little black flute that had just been played in the orchestra and handed out at the door—he was called upon unanimously for Rule Britannia.

1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XII, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 201:

And when they paused on a hilltop for lunch, he whipped out his battered recorder and commenced to tootling “Greensleeves,” scaring off all living creatures within a five-mile radius—which may have been his intention.

1982, Anne Tyler, chapter 5, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, New York: Knopf, page 133:

[…] he had huffed into his white plastic recorder while scowling at the sheets of music that lay open on the wobbly stainless-steel stand.

2017, Daniel Mendelsohn, An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, New York: Penguin Random House:

(music) A musical instrument of the woodwind family; a type of fipple flute, a simple internal duct flute.


laptop

From lap (“upper legs of a seated person”) + top, modeled after desktop.

com

Over time, the difference in size between laptops and notebooks became a matter of no more than an inch or two in length and width, and a fraction of an inch in thickness.

2006, Corey Sandler, Upgrading and Fixing Laptops For Dummies, page 8:

Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.

2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

ܚܲܫܘܼܒ݂ܵܐ ܡܙܝܼܥܵܢܵܐ

ḥašūḇā mzīˁānā

hordozható számítógép

scarcely used, chiefly when talking to non-english speakers who tend not to understand the two loanwords


laminar

In, or consisting of, thin plates or layers.

(electronics) In the form of thin flat electronic circuits, usually flexible


supercharger

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-supercharger.wav

компресор

inlet air compressor for an internal combustion engine

(electrics, electronics) A device that can rapidly recharge a battery cell/pack.


supercharge

en-verb

supercharge (third-person singular simple present supercharges, present participle supercharging, simple past and past participle supercharged)

supercharges (present singular third-person)
supercharging (participle present)
supercharged (participle past)
supercharged (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-supercharge.wav

(electronics, electrics) To recharge a battery cell/pack at an extremely rapid pace.


supercharge

(electrics, electronics) An instance of supercharging.


crosstalk

en-noun

crosstalk (countable and uncountable, plural crosstalks)

From cross- + talk.
Usage in reference to the Chinese comedic performance is probably a loose calque from Chinese 相聲／相声 (xiàngsheng).

(electronics) Undesirable signals from a neighbouring transmission circuit; undesired coupling between circuits.

串擾

undesirable signals from a neighbouring transmission circuit (electronics)


computer chip

(electronics) An integrated circuit, typically installed in a personal computer or other electronic devices.


trunk call

(telephony, dated, chiefly British) a long-distance telephone call, especially one connected by the operator


MP4 player

An electronic device for playing digital audio files in the MP4 format (and, in many cases, also files in other formats).


flutter

flutter (countable and uncountable, plural flutters)

From Middle English floteren, from Old English floterian, flotorian (“to float about, flutter”), from Proto-Germanic *flutrōną, frequentative of Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”), equivalent to float + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisian flodderje (“to flutter, beat”), Dutch flodderen (“to flutter, wave”), Low German fluttern, fluddern (“to flutter”), German flittern (“to sparkle, glitter”). More at float.

cog

Coordinate term: wow

(audio, electronics) The rapid variation of signal parameters, such as amplitude, phase, and frequency.


birdie

(electronics) An electromagnetic signal generated from within an electronic device.


circuit board

A board on which electronic components and their interconnecting circuits are mounted or etched


blowhole

(computer hardware) A vertical opening in the top of a computer case that lets hot air (primarily from the CPU heat sink) escape quickly.


immittance

en-noun

immittance (countable and uncountable, plural immittances)

(physics, electronics) Either the impedance or the admittance of an electrical network, considered as alternatives.


central processing unit

central processing unit (plural central processing units)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-central processing unit.wav

Coordinate term: graphics processing unit

(computer hardware) The part of a computer that fetches, decodes and executes instructions; attached directly to the memory.

中央演算処理装置

ちゅうおうえんざんしょりそうち


telemarketer

Someone who sells products or services by making unsolicited telephone calls.

telefonsælger

someone who sells products or services by making unsolicited telephone calls


answering machine

answering machine (plural answering machines)

(telephony) A device that automatically records voice mail from unanswered telephone calls.


motherboard

→ Bengali: মাদারবোর্ড (madarbōrḍ)

→ Japanese: マザーボード (mazābōdo)

→ Chinese: 母板 (mǔbǎn) (calque)

→ Dutch: moederbord (calque)

→ Estonian: emaplaat (calque)

→ Finnish: emolevy (calque)

→ Icelandic: móðurborð (calque)

→ Irish: máthairchlár (calque)

→ Italian: scheda madre (calque)

→ Portuguese: placa-mãe (calque)

desc

матери́нская пла́та

→ Russian: матери́нская пла́та (materínskaja pláta) (calque)

матери́нська пла́та

→ Ukrainian: матери́нська пла́та (materýnsʹka pláta) (calque)

/ˈmʌðɚˌbɔɹd/

Compound of mother + board. Attested since 1965.

An electronics shop was selling ugly refurbished computers. They were small black and grey things with exposed motherboards and cracked cases.

2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 8:

central processing unit
central processing unit

(computer hardware) The primary circuit board of a personal computer, containing the circuitry for the central processing unit, keyboard, mouse and monitor, together with slots for other devices.


From 1, used to dial long-distance numbers and 800, which was, for a long time, the only North American toll-free area code.

866-555-1234... that's a 1-800 number, isn't it?

FEMA has got a 1-800 number.

1994, Bill Clinton, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton:

We provided a 1-800 hot line and a new food stamp tool kit which I would also like to provide for the record.

Exhibit 9.2 represents a 1-800 customer ordering process.

2001, David Wade, Ron Recardo, Corporate Performance Management:

Once when her husband had got a 1-800 number she used to get calls from all sorts of lonely weirdos who had nothing better to do late at night than call up people they didn't know.

Many people have profited from providing easy services that others do not like to do, such as a simple service like barbeque cleaning, superscoopers for cleaning up after dogs, an errand service, or a 1-800 tele-tutor service for school-age children who need assistance with their homework.

2002, Elaine Dundon, The Seeds of Innovation:

“I got a 1-800 number. I could check your credit card right now, and get an approval code, or find out if it's stolen or not. Just dial a 1-800 number and deal with computers."

2003, Bambi Vincent, Bob Arno, Travel Advisory!: How to Avoid Thefts, Cons, and Street Scams While Traveling:

(Canada, US) A toll-free number or a long-distance telephone numbers; using any of North American toll-free area codes 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 or 833.


daisy chain

en-verb

daisy chain (third-person singular simple present daisy chains, present participle daisy chaining, simple past and past participle daisy chained)

daisy chains (present singular third-person)
daisy chaining (participle present)
daisy chained (participle past)
daisy chained (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-daisy chain.wav

We daisy chained several USB hubs to see if we could reach the far side of the room.

(electronics) To connect a network or other peripheral in sequence from one node to another through the connected devices.

connecter en série

(electronics) to connect in sequence from one node to another


caller

From Middle English callar, equivalent to call + -er.

Coordinate term: callee

―I’ve got someone on the line.
―Who’s the caller?

Thaler was arrested in Orono last May when a caller reported that the car she was driving had a shattered rear window and a blown-out tire.

2023 February 16, WCCO Staff, “Julissa Thaler sentenced to life in prison for murdering 6-year-old son, Eli Hart”, in cbsnews.com:

(telephony) The person who makes a telephone call.


touch-tone

Relating to a type of telephone with buttons, each of which produces a tone which corresponds to the relevant digit.


touch-tone

a teleconference service for touch-tones only

A telephone with buttons that produce tones, one for each digit.

software to decode touch-tones


ring cadence

(telephony) The ringing pattern heard by the dialer before the called party picks up the call.


hotline

→ German: Hotline

If you've got any problems with the product, ring our hotline.

A telephone line that is always staffed and able to give immediate assistance.

خَطّ سَاخِن

telephone line that is able to give immediate assistance


clock out

clock out (third-person singular simple present clocks out, present participle clocking out, simple past and past participle clocked out)

clocks out (present singular third-person)
clocking out (participle present)
clocked out (participle past)
clocked out (past)

(transitive, intransitive, electronics) To transmit individual bits of data under the control of a clock.


flash memory

en-noun

flash memory (usually uncountable, plural flash memories)

(computer hardware) A rewritable memory chip that retains its data without a power supply.


extension cord

(electronics, US) An electrical cord with a plug one end, and a single socket or a multi-port socket at the other end, used for powering one or more devices at a distance, too far from the wall outlet to be reached by the normal cords of the device or devices.


ESS

electronic switching system
electronic switching system#English

(electronics) Initialism of electronic switching system.


switchboard

(telecommunications) The electronic panel that is used to direct telephone calls to the desired recipient.

камута́тар

electronic panel used to direct telephone calls


repeater

(telegraphy) A telegraphic instrument for automatically retransmitting a message.

[…] Colonel Moen was trying to make sense of the radio nets, which had never really been operational let alone secure; our numerous outposts were cobbled together with hand-held Motorolas and too few repeater stations […]

2009, Julius Mutwol, Peace Agreements and Civil Wars in Africa, →ISBN, page 190:

(electronics) An electronic device that receives a weak or low-level signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher power.

повторител

electronics: an electronic device that received a weak or low-level signal and retransmits it at a higher level or power


reactive

en-adj

reactive (comparative more reactive, superlative most reactive)

more reactive (comparative)
most reactive (superlative)

(electronics) Characterized by induction or capacitance rather than resistance.


feedback

en-noun

feedback (usually uncountable, plural feedbacks)

→ German: Feedback

→ Japanese: フィードバック (fīdobakku)

→ Korean: 피드백 (pideubaek)

→ Polish: feedback

→ Portuguese: feedback

→ Russian: фидбэ́к (fidbɛ́k)

→ Spanish: feedback, → retroalimentación (calque)

The fact that similar cortical abnormalities can be experimentally induced in monkeys has allowed Michael Merzenich and his colleagues in San Francisco to explore an animal model of focal dystonia, and to demonstrate the abnormal feedback in the sensory loop and the motor misfirings that, once started, grow relentlessly worse.

2007, Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain:

(electronics, cybernetics, control theory) The part of an output signal that is looped back into the input to control or modify a system.

cybernetics; control theory; cybernetics; control theory

հետադարձ կապ

signal that is looped back to control a system within itself


dropout

dropout (countable and uncountable, plural dropouts)


jellybean

These were mainly used to implement glue logic, and it was possible to replace fifty or more jellybean devices with a single ASIC.

2008, Clive Maxfield, Bebop to the Boolean Boogie:

(slang, electronics, programming) of an electronic component, or software algorithm: generic, standard, vanilla, easy to find


breakout

breakout box; breakout cable

(electronics, attributive) Splitting a signal into several signals.


DMS

DMS (countable and uncountable, plural DMSs)

digital multiplex system
w:digital multiplex system

(uncountable, telephony) Initialism of digital multiplex system.

donors message service
donors message service#English

(uncountable, telephony, rare) Initialism of donors message service.


latency

latency (countable and uncountable, plural latencies)

lag

not physics- or electronic gaming-related

(electronics) A delay, an interval between the initiation of something and the occurrence.


limiter

(electronics) A circuit that allows signals below a specified input threshold to pass unaffected while attenuating the peaks of stronger signals.


interlace

interlace (countable and uncountable, plural interlaces)

From Middle English entrelacen, from Anglo-Norman entrelacer, from Old French inter- + lacer (“weave”).

(electronics) A technique of improving the picture quality of a video signal primarily on CRT devices without consuming extra bandwidth.


night letter

"Someone named Rose sent a night letter from Philadelphia asking for six free tickets. A relative?"

1976, [Walter Wager], My Side by King Kong: As Told to Walter Wager, New York, NY: Collier Books, page 104:

(telegraphy, historical) A telegram sent overnight at a reduced rate for delivery on the morning of the following day, typically with a minimum charge for 25 words or less.


magnetron

(physics) A device in which electrons are made to resonate in a specially shaped chamber and thus produce microwave radiation; used in radar, and in microwave ovens


ring off the hook

en-verb

ring off the hook (third-person singular simple present rings off the hook, present participle ringing off the hook, simple past rang off the hook, past participle rung off the hook)

rings off the hook (present singular third-person)
ringing off the hook (participle present)
rang off the hook (past)
rung off the hook (participle past)

I placed the advertisement yesterday, and the phone has been ringing off the hook ever since.

(idiomatic) Of a telephone, to ring constantly or excessively.


SMART

w:self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology

(computer hardware) Acronym of self-monitoring, analysis and reporting technology; also S.M.A.R.T.: a monitoring system included in computer HDDs and SSDs in order to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the intent of anticipating imminent hardware failures.


peripheral device

en-noun

peripheral device (plural peripheral devices)

(computer hardware) An electronic device that is outside the computer's system unit (external to the computer's enclosing case), but used by the computer to which it is connected, such as a printer or a scanner.