control

[kuh n-trohl] /kənˈtroʊl/
verb (used with object), controlled, controlling.
1.
to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command.
2.
to hold in check; curb:
to control a horse; to control one's emotions.
3.
to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallel experiment or other standard of comparison.
4.
to eliminate or prevent the flourishing or spread of:
to control a forest fire.
5.
Obsolete. to check or regulate (transactions), originally by means of a duplicate register.
noun
6.
the act or power of controlling; regulation; domination or command:
Who's in control here?
7.
the situation of being under the regulation, domination, or command of another:
The car is out of control.
8.
check or restraint:
Her anger is under control.
9.
a legal or official means of regulation or restraint:
to institute wage and price controls.
10.
Statistics. control variable (def 1).
11.
a person who acts as a check; controller.
12.
a device for regulating and guiding a machine, as a motor or airplane.
13.
controls, a coordinated arrangement of such devices.
14.
prevention of the flourishing or spread of something undesirable:
rodent control.
15.
Baseball. the ability of a pitcher to throw the ball into the strike zone consistently:
The rookie pitcher has great power but no control.
16.
Philately. any device printed on a postage or revenue stamp to authenticate it as a government issue or to identify it for bookkeeping purposes.
17.
a spiritual agency believed to assist a medium at a séance.
18.
the supervisor to whom an espionage agent reports when in the field.
Origin
1425-75; late Middle English co(u)ntrollen (v.) < Anglo-French contreroller to keep a duplicate account or roll, derivative of contrerolle (noun). See counter-, roll
Related forms
controllable, adjective, noun
controllability, controllableness, noun
controllably, adverb
controlless, adjective
controllingly, adverb
noncontrollable, adjective
noncontrollablely, adverb
noncontrolled, adjective
noncontrolling, adjective
overcontrol, verb (used with object), overcontrolled, overcontrolling, noun
precontrol, noun, verb (used with object), precontrolled, precontrolling.
quasi-controlled, adjective
quasi-controlling, adjective
subcontrol, verb (used with object), subcontrolled, subcontrolling.
supercontrol, noun
uncontrolled, adjective
uncontrolling, adjective
well-controlled, adjective
Synonyms
1. manage, govern, rule. 2. restrain, bridle, constrain. 6. management, government, reign, rule, mastery. See authority.
Examples from the web for control
  • Researchers say the robots could command themselves and other robots with little input from ground control.
  • News about arms control and limitation and disarmament.
  • But self-awareness is not the same thing as self-control.
  • It's a fantasy of control and protection in times that seem out of control and scary.
  • The challenges of inventory control as you're living out of a carry-on for a week.
  • As drugs took control of her hands, the surface of her paintings became rough, her brushwork agitated.
  • With one disease under control, he would now go gunning for another.
  • It's based on meticulous environment control, not chemicals.
  • It may be that females need to control the limited supply to meet the nutritional demands of pregnancy and lactation.
  • Eliza tries to control herself and feel indifferent as she rises and walks across to the hearth to switch off the lights.
British Dictionary definitions for control

control

/kənˈtrəʊl/
verb (transitive) -trols, -trolling, -trolled
1.
to command, direct, or rule: to control a country
2.
to check, limit, curb, or regulate; restrain: to control one's emotions, to control a fire
3.
to regulate or operate (a machine)
4.
to verify (a scientific experiment) by conducting a parallel experiment in which the variable being investigated is held constant or is compared with a standard
5.
  1. to regulate (financial affairs)
  2. to examine and verify (financial accounts)
6.
to restrict or regulate the authorized supply of (certain substances, such as drugs)
noun
7.
power to direct or determine: under control, out of control
8.
a means of regulation or restraint; curb; check: a frontier control
9.
(often pl) a device or mechanism for operating a car, aircraft, etc
10.
a standard of comparison used in a statistical analysis or scientific experiment
11.
  1. a device that regulates the operation of a machine. A dynamic control is one that incorporates a governor so that it responds to the output of the machine it regulates
  2. (as modifier): control panel, control room
12.
(spiritualism) an agency believed to assist the medium in a séance
13.
Also called control mark. a letter, or letter and number, printed on a sheet of postage stamps, indicating authenticity, date, and series of issue
14.
one of a number of checkpoints on a car rally, orienteering course, etc, where competitors check in and their time, performance, etc, is recorded
Derived Forms
controllable, adjective
controllability, controllableness, noun
controllably, adverb
Word Origin
C15: from Old French conteroller to regulate, from contrerolle duplicate register, system of checking, from contre-counter- + rolleroll
Word Origin and History for control
v.

early 14c., "to check, verify, regulate," from Anglo-French contreroller "exert authority," from Medieval Latin contrarotulus "a counter, register," from Latin contra- "against" (see contra) + rotulus, diminutive of rota "wheel" (see roll (n.)). From a medieval method of checking accounts by a duplicate register. Sense of "dominate, direct" is mid-15c. Related: Controlled; controlling.

Control group in scientific experiments is attested from 1952 (from a sense of control attested since 1875).

n.

1580s, from control (v.). Control freak is late 1960s slang.

control in Medicine

control con·trol (kən-trōl')
v. con·trolled, con·trol·ling, con·trols

  1. To verify or regulate a scientific experiment by conducting a parallel experiment or by comparing with another standard.

  2. To hold in restraint; check.

n.

  1. A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of an experiment.

  2. An individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a control experiment.

control in Science
control
  (kən-trōl')   
A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of an experiment. In an experiment to test the effectiveness of a new drug, for example, one group of subjects (the control group) receives an inactive substance or placebo , while a comparison group receives the drug being tested.
control in Technology
character
(Or "ctrl", "^") One (or a pair) of modifier keys found on all modern keyboards. If the control key is held down while pressing and releasing certain other keys then a "control character" is generated, e.g. holding control and hitting "A" generates control-A (ASCII code 1). The ASCII code for the control character is generally 64 less than that for the unmodified character.
The control key does not generate any character on its own but most modern keyboards and operating systems allow a program to tell whether each of the individual keys on the keyboard (including modifier keys) is pressed at any time.
Control characters mostly have some kind of "non-printing" effect on the output such as ringing the bell (Control-G) or advancing to the next line (Control-J). Most have alternative names suggesting these functions (Bell, Line Feed, etc.).
See ASCII character table.
(1997-07-10)
Idioms and Phrases with control

control

see: