computer

[kuh m-pyoo-ter] /kəmˈpyu tər/

noun

a programmable electronic device designed to accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and logical operations at high speed, and display the results of these operations. Mainframes, desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones are some of the different types of computers.

Compare analog computer, digital computer.

a person who computes; computist.

Origin

1640-50; compute + -er¹; compare Middle French computeur

Related forms

computerlike, adjective

noncomputer, adjective

Examples from the web for computer

File sharing was originally intended to help people move data across computer networks.
Actual data will only continue to match the computer models anyhow.
Backing up computer files is always good advice but it is especially important to those writing dissertations.
He communicated what he wanted to say by moving his pupils and blinking to indicate which letter to choose from a computer tablet.
He scanned the negatives into a computer, and sometimes digitally removed people, heightening the feeling of isolation.
The major hook for the new app is a wealth of computer-animated dinosaurs.
It would be far cheaper to do it all by computer, but that's not what our clients want.
Both episodes intersperse commentary from paleontologists with computer-generated restorations of the dinosaurs.
What it was, as the world found out yesterday, was a new touch-screen computer.
These were the daughters of computer programmers and people with graduate degrees.

British Dictionary definitions for computer

computer

/kəmˈpjuːtə/

noun

a device, usually electronic, that processes data according to a set of instructions. The digital computer stores data in discrete units and performs arithmetical and logical operations at very high speed. The analog computer has no memory and is slower than the digital computer but has a continuous rather than a discrete input. The hybrid computer combines some of the advantages of digital and analog computers See also digital computer, analog computer, hybrid computer
(as modifier): computer technology, related prefix cyber-

a person who computes or calculates

Word Origin and History for computer

1640s, "one who calculates," agent noun from compute (v.). Meaning "calculating machine" (of any type) is from 1897; in modern use, "programmable digital electronic computer" (1945 under this name; theoretical from 1937, as Turing machine). ENIAC (1946) usually is considered the first. Computer literacy is recorded from 1970; an attempt to establish computerate (adjective, on model of literate) in this sense in the early 1980s didn't catch on. Computerese "the jargon of programmers" is from 1960, as are computerize and computerization.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A New York Congressman says the use of computers to record personal data on individuals, such as their credit background, "is just frightening to me." [news article, March 17, 1968]

computer in Science

computer

(kəm-py'tər)
A programmable machine that performs high-speed processing of numbers, as well as of text, graphics, symbols, and sound. All computers contain a central processing unit that interprets and executes instructions; input devices, such as a keyboard and a mouse, through which data and commands enter the computer; memory that enables the computer to store programs and data; and output devices, such as printers and display screens, that show the results after the computer has processed data.

computer in Culture

computer definition

An electronic device that stores and manipulates information. Unlike a calculator, it is able to store a program and retrieve information from its memory. Most computers today are digital, which means they perform operations with quantities represented electronically as digits.

computer in Technology

publication
A journal of the IEEE Computer Society.
(1995-03-10)

computer
A machine that can be programmed to manipulate symbols. Computers can perform complex and repetitive procedures quickly, precisely and reliably and can quickly store and retrieve large amounts of data.
The physical components from which a computer is constructed (electronic circuits and input/output devices) are known as "hardware". Most computers have four types of hardware component: CPU, input, output and memory. The CPU (central processing unit) executes programs ("software") which tell the computer what to do. Input and output (I/O) devices allow the computer to communicate with the user and the outside world. There are several kinds of memory - fast, expensive, short term memory (e.g. RAM) to hold intermediate results, and slower, cheaper, long-term memory (e.g. magnetic disk and magnetic tape) to hold programs and data between jobs.
See also analogue computer.
(1995-03-10)