user1

[yoo-zer] /ˈyu zər/
noun
1.
a person or thing that uses.
2.
one who uses drugs, especially as an abuser or addict.
3.
Computers. a person who uses a computer.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English usere; see use, -er1

user2

[oo-zer] /ˈu zər/
noun, Law.
1.
the exercise of a right to the enjoyment of property.
Origin
noun use of Anglo-French user to use
Examples from the web for user
  • It is the user that determines the matter, and particularly the user's habitual way of thinking.
  • Perhaps the solution lies in a more intimate exchange between user and software.
  • Intuitive and user-friendly they may be, but new they are not.
  • With these, and a pair of crutches for backup, a user can walk around.
  • Where the user of a search engine is on a solitary quest, the user of a collaborative-filtering system is part of a crowd.
  • Whereas e-mail messages go to a machine sitting on a desk, text messages go directly to the mobile phone's user.
  • Last spring a baffled user posted a query about why her ferrets-for-sale ad disappeared.
  • Give us your e-mail address, and your user name will be sent to you.
  • In addition, this plugin comes with a widget that will notify the end user of the access keys that are in use on the site.
  • As the announcement notes, these changes help the system learn more quickly from user input about the importance of messages.
British Dictionary definitions for user

user

/ˈjuːzə/
noun
1.
(law)
  1. the continued exercise, use, or enjoyment of a right, esp in property
  2. a presumptive right based on long-continued use: right of user
2.
(often in combination) a person or thing that uses: a road-user
3.
(informal) a drug addict
Word Origin and History for user
n.

c.1400, agent noun from use (v.). Of narcotics, from 1935; of computers, from 1967. User-friendly (1977) is said in some sources to have been coined by software designer Harlan Crowder as early as 1972.

Slang definitions & phrases for user

user

noun

A person who uses narcotics, esp an addict (1950s+ Narcotics)


user in Technology


1. Someone doing "real work" with the computer, using it as a means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who asks silly questions without thinking for two seconds or looking in the documentation. Someone who uses a program, however skillfully, without getting into the internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of just fixing them. See also luser, real user.
Users are looked down on by hackers to some extent because they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in all its glory. The term is relative: a skilled hacker may be a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus there is some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be resolved by context.
2. Any person, organisation, process, device, program, protocol, or system which uses a service provided by others.
The term "client" (as in "client-server" systems) is rather more specific, usually implying two processes communicating via some protocol.
[Jargon File]
(1996-04-28)