TERMS STARTING WITH
gamecock ::: n. --> The male game fowl.
gamed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Game
game fowl ::: --> A handsome breed of the common fowl, remarkable for the great courage and pugnacity of the males.
gameful ::: a. --> Full of game or games.
gamekeeper ::: n. --> One who has the care of game, especially in a park or preserve.
gameless ::: a. --> Destitute of game.
gamely ::: adv. --> In a plucky manner; spiritedly.
game ::: n. --> Crooked; lame; as, a game leg.
To rejoice; to be pleased; -- often used, in Old English, impersonally with dative.
To play at any sport or diversion.
To play for a stake or prize; to use cards, dice, billiards, or other instruments, according to certain rules, with a view to win money or other thing waged upon the issue of the contest; to gamble.
gameness ::: n. --> Endurance; pluck.
games "games" "The time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted." -- {Bertrand Russell}. Here are some games-related pages on the {Web}: {Imperial Nomic (http://mit.edu:8001/people/achmed/fascist/)}, {Thoth's games and recreations page (http://cis.ufl.edu/~thoth/library/recreation.html)}, {Games Domain (http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain)}, {Zarf's List of Games on the Web (http://leftfoot.com/games.html)}, {Dave's list of pointers to games resources (http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/~djh/index.html)}, {Collaborative Fiction (http://asylum.cid.com/fiction/fiction.html)}. See also {3DO}, {ADL}, {ADVENT}, {ADVSYS}, {alpha/beta pruning}, {Amiga}, {CHIP-8}, {Core Wars}, {DROOL}, {empire}, {I see no X here.}, {Infocom}, {Inglish}, {initgame}, {life}, {minimax}, {moria}, {mudhead}, {multi-user Dimension}, {nethack}, {ogg}, {plugh}, {rogue}, {SPACEWAR}, {virtual reality}, {wizard mode}, {wumpus}, {xyzzy}, {ZIL}, {zorkmid}. See also {game theory}. (1996-03-03)
games ::: (games) The time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted. -- Bertrand Russell.Here are some games-related pages on the Web: , , , .See also 3DO, ADL, ADVENT, ADVSYS, alpha/beta pruning, Amiga, CHIP-8, Core Wars, DROOL, empire, I see no X here., Infocom, Inglish, initgame, life, minimax, moria, mudhead, multi-user Dimension, nethack, ogg, plugh, rogue, SPACEWAR, virtual reality, wizard mode, wumpus, xyzzy, ZIL, zorkmid.See also game theory. (1996-03-03)
gamesome ::: a. --> Gay; sportive; playful; frolicsome; merry.
gamester ::: n. --> A merry, frolicsome person.
A person who plays at games; esp., one accustomed to play for a stake; a gambler; one skilled in games.
A prostitute; a strumpet.
game theory: In The mathematical study of mathematical objects called games which consists of a set of players, a set of actions available to players during specified stages of the game and specified method for determining the payoffs for the players.
game theory ::: The study of mathematical models of strategic interaction between rational decision-makers.[182]
game tree "games" A {tree} representing contingencies in a game. Each {node} in a game tree represents a possible position (e.g., possible configuration of pieces on a chessboard) in the game, and each branching ("edge" in graph terms) represents a possible move. (1998-11-14)
game tree ::: (games) A tree representing contingencies in a game. Each node in a game tree represents a possible position (e.g., possible configuration of pieces on a chessboard) in the game, and each branching (edge in graph terms) represents a possible move. (1998-11-14)
Gamerin—in ceremonial magical rites, an angel
Game theory (or the theory, of games) - The theory that studies rational decision making in situations in which one must anticipate the reactions of one's competitors to the moves that one makes.
Gameway ceremonials: Magic hunting rites of the Navajo Indians.
TERMS ANYWHERE
3DO "company, games, standard" A set of specifications created and owned by the 3DO company, which is a partnership of seven different companies. These specs are the blueprint for making a 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and are licensed to hardware and software producers. A 3DO system has an {ARM60} 32-bit {RISC} {CPU} and a graphics engine based around two custom designed graphics and animation processors. It has 2 Megabytes of {DRAM}, 1 Megabyte of {VRAM}, and a double speed {CD-ROM} drive for main storage. The {Panasonic} 3DO system can run 3DO Interactive software, play audio CDs (including support for CD+G), view {Photo-CDs}, and will eventually be able to play {Video CDs} with a special add-on {MPEG}1 {full-motion video} cartridge. Up to 8 {controllers} can be {daisy-chain}ed on the system at once. A keyboard, mouse, light gun, and other peripherals may also some day be hooked into the system, although they are not currently available (December 1993). The 3DO can display {full-motion video}, fully {texture map}ped 3d landscapes, all in 24-bit colour. {Sanyo} and {AT&T} will also release 3DO systems. Sanyo's in mid 1994 and AT&T in late 1994. There will be a 3DO add-on cartridge based on the {PowerPC} to enable the 3DO to compete with {Sony}'s {Playstation} console and {Sega}'s {Saturn} console, both of which have a higher specification than the original 3DO. The add-on is commonly known as the M2 or Bulldog. It should hit the shops by Christmas 1995 and will (allegedly) do a million flat shaded polygons per second. {3DO Home (http://3do.com/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:rec.games.video.3do}. (1994-12-13)
A3D "hardware" (Aureal 3-Dimensional?) A technology developed by {Aureal} that delivers sound with a three-dimensional effect through two speakers. Many modern {sound cards} and PC games now support this feature. A3D differs from the various forms of {surround sound} in that it only requires two speakers, while surround sound typically requires four or five. It is sometimes less convincing than surround sound but is supposedly better in {interactive} environments. For example, PC games in which sounds often move from one speaker to another favour A3D, while pre-recorded video favours surround sound. {(http://a3d.com/)}. (1999-01-26)
AberMUD "games" The first popular {open source} {MUD}. The first version of AberMUD, named after Aberystwyth, UK, was written in {B} by Alan Cox, Richard Acott, Jim Finnis, and Leon Thrane, at University of Wales, Aberystwyth for an old {Honeywell} {mainframe} and opened in 1987. The gameplay was heavily influenced by {MUD1}, written by Roy Trubshaw and Richard Bartle, which Alan Cox had played at the University of Essex. In late 1988, Alan Cox ported AberMUD to {C} so it could run under {UNIX} on Southampton University's Maths machines. This version was named AberMUD2. Various other versions followed. (2008-11-24)
a game in which a blindfolded player tries to catch and identify one of the other players. The game has been around for at least 2000 years and probably longer. It is known to have been played in Greece about the time of the Roman Conquest.
Acorn Computers Ltd. "company" A UK computer manufacturer, part of the {Acorn Computer Group} plc. Acorn was founded on 1978-12-05, on a kitchen table in a back room. Their first creation was an electronic slot machine. After the {Acorn System 1}, 2 and 3, Acorn launched the first commercial {microcomputer} - the {ATOM} in March 1980. In April 1981, Acorn won a contract from the {BBC} to provide the {PROTON}. In January 1982 Acorn launched the {BBC Microcomputer} System. At one time, 70% of microcomputers bought for UK schools were BBC Micros. The Acorn Computer Group went public on the Unlisted Securities Market in September 1983. In April 1984 Acorn won the Queen's Award for Technology for the BBC Micro and in September 1985 {Olivetti} took a controlling interest in Acorn. The {Master} 128 Series computers were launched in January 1986 and the BBC {Domesday} System in November 1986. In 1983 Acorn began to design the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM), the first low-cost, high volume {RISC} processor chip (later renamed the {Advanced RISC Machine}). In June 1987 they launched the {Archimedes} range - the first 32-bit {RISC} based {microcomputers} - which sold for under UKP 1000. In February 1989 the R140 was launched. This was the first {Unix} {workstation} under UKP 4000. In May 1989 the A3000 (the new {BBC Microcomputer}) was launched. In 1990 Acorn formed {Advanced RISC Machines} Ltd. (ARM) in partnership with {Apple Computer, Inc.} and {VLSI} to develop the ARM processor. Acorn has continued to develop {RISC} based products. With 1992 revenues of 48.2 million pounds, Acorn Computers was the premier supplier of {Information Technology} products to UK education and had been the leading provider of 32-bit RISC based {personal computers} since 1987. Acorn finally folded in the late 1990s. Their operating system, {RISC OS} was further developed by a consortium of suppliers. {Usenet} newsgroups: {news:comp.sys.acorn}, {news:comp.sys.acorn.announce}, {news:comp.sys.acorn.tech}, {news:comp.binaries.acorn}, {news:comp.sources.acorn}, {news:comp.sys.acorn.advocacy}, {news:comp.sys.acorn.games}. {Acorn's FTP server (ftp://ftp.acorn.co.uk/)}. {HENSA software archive (http://micros.hensa.ac.uk/micros/arch.html)}. {Richard Birkby's Acorn page (http://csv.warwick.ac.uk/~phudv/)}. {RiscMan's Acorn page (http://geko.com.au/riscman/)}. {Acorn On The Net (http://stir.ac.uk/~rhh01/Main.html)}. {"The Jungle" by Simon Truss (http://csc.liv.ac.uk/users/u1smt/u1smt.html)}. [Recent history?] (2000-09-26)
ADL 1. "games" {Adventure Definition Language}. 2. "language" {Ada} Development Language. R.A. Lees, 1989. 3. "programming" {API} Definition Language. A project for Automatic Interface Test Generation. (1995-11-17)
Advanced RISC Machine "processor" (ARM, Originally {Acorn} RISC Machine). A series of low-cost, power-efficient 32-bit {RISC} {microprocessors} for embedded control, computing, {digital signal processing}, {games}, consumer {multimedia} and portable applications. It was the first commercial RISC microprocessor (or was the {MIPS R2000}?) and was licensed for production by {Asahi Kasei Microsystems}, {Cirrus Logic}, {GEC Plessey Semiconductors}, {Samsung}, {Sharp}, {Texas Instruments} and {VLSI Technology}. The ARM has a small and highly {orthogonal instruction set}, as do most RISC processors. Every instruction includes a four-bit code which specifies a condition (of the {processor status register}) which must be satisfied for the instruction to be executed. Unconditional execution is specified with a condition "true". Instructions are split into load and store which access memory and arithmetic and logic instructions which work on {registers} (two source and one destination). The ARM has 27 registers of which 16 are accessible in any particular processor mode. R15 combines the {program counter} and processor status byte, the other registers are general purpose except that R14 holds the {return address} after a {subroutine} call and R13 is conventionally used as a {stack pointer}. There are four processor modes: user, {interrupt} (with a private copy of R13 and R14), fast interrupt (private copies of R8 to R14) and {supervisor} (private copies of R13 and R14). The {ALU} includes a 32-bit {barrel-shifter} allowing, e.g., a single-{cycle} shift and add. The first ARM processor, the ARM1 was a prototype which was never released. The ARM2 was originally called the Acorn RISC Machine. It was designed by {Acorn Computers Ltd.} and used in the original {Archimedes}, their successor to the {BBC Micro} and {BBC Master} series which were based on the eight-bit {6502} {microprocessor}. It was clocked at 8 MHz giving an average performance of 4 - 4.7 {MIPS}. Development of the ARM family was then continued by a new company, {Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.} The {ARM3} added a {fully-associative} on-chip {cache} and some support for {multiprocessing}. This was followed by the {ARM600} chip which was an {ARM6} processor {core} with a 4-kilobyte 64-way {set-associative} {cache}, an {MMU} based on the MEMC2 chip, a {write buffer} (8 words?) and a {coprocessor} interface. The {ARM7} processor core uses half the power of the {ARM6} and takes around half the {die} size. In a full processor design ({ARM700} chip) it should provide 50% to 100% more performance. In July 1994 {VLSI Technology, Inc.} released the {ARM710} processor chip. {Thumb} is an implementation with reduced code size requirements, intended for {embedded} applications. An {ARM800} chip is also planned. {AT&T}, {IBM}, {Panasonic}, {Apple Coputer}, {Matsushita} and {Sanyo} either rely on, or manufacture, ARM 32-bit processor chips. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.sys.arm}. (1997-08-05)
ADVENT "games" /ad'vent/ The prototypical computer {adventure} game, first implemented by Will Crowther for a {CDC} computer (probably the {CDC 6600}?) as an attempt at computer-refereed fantasy gaming. ADVENT was ported to the {PDP-10}, and expanded to the 350-point {Classic} puzzle-oriented version, by Don Woods of the {Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory} (SAIL). The game is now better known as Adventure, but the {TOPS-10} {operating system} permitted only six-letter filenames. All the versions since are based on the SAIL port. David Long of the {University of Chicago} Graduate School of Business Computing Facility (which had two of the four {DEC20s} on campus in the late 1970s and early 1980s) was responsible for expanding the cave in a number of ways, and pushing the point count up to 500, then 501 points. Most of his work was in the data files, but he made some changes to the {parser} as well. This game defined the terse, dryly humorous style now expected in text adventure games, and popularised several tag lines that have become fixtures of hacker-speak: "A huge green fierce snake bars the way!" "I see no X here" (for some noun X). "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike." "You are in a little maze of twisty passages, all different." The "magic words" {xyzzy} and {plugh} also derive from this game. Crowther, by the way, participated in the exploration of the Mammoth & Flint Ridge cave system; it actually *has* a "Colossal Cave" and a "Bedquilt" as in the game, and the "Y2" that also turns up is cavers' jargon for a map reference to a secondary entrance. See also {vadding}. [Was the original written in Fortran?] [{Jargon File}] (1996-04-01)
Adventure Definition Language "language, games" (ADL) An {adventure} game language {interpreter} designed by Ross Cunniff "cunniff@fc.hp.com" and Tim Brengle in 1987. ADL is semi-{object-oriented} with {Lisp}-like {syntax} and is a superset of {DDL}. It is available for {Unix}, {MS-DOS}, {Amiga} and {Acorn} {Archimedes}. {(ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.games/volume2)}, {(ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/systems/amiga/fish/fish/f0/ff091)}. (1995-03-20)
ADVSYS "language, games" An {adventure} game language designed by David Betz in 1986. ADVSYS is {object-oriented} and {Lisp}-like. {(ftp://ftp.uu.net/usenet/comp.sources.games/volume2)}. (1995-03-20)
adware "software" Any kind of {software} that displays advertisements while it is running. The display of adverts is sometimes incidental to the software's main purpose (e.g. a game). In the case of a piece of {malware}, the adverts may be its only purpose, possibly hidden behind a pretence of providing some desired function like a security scanner. The adware's distributors may get paid for every machine infected. The adverts may vary in obtrusiveness from occasional or out-of-the-way images, audio or video to blocking access to the desired function while the advert is presented. {Nagware} is a special case of adware where the advert is for a license for, or upgrade to, the program itself. (2018-12-13)
aftergame ::: n. --> A second game; hence, a subsequent scheme or expedient.
aftercast ::: n. --> A throw of dice after the game in ended; hence, anything done too late.
agonistics ::: n. --> The science of athletic combats, or contests in public games.
agonist ::: n. --> One who contends for the prize in public games.
agon ::: n. --> A contest for a prize at the public games.
agonothete ::: n. --> An officer who presided over the great public games in Greece.
alakabhava ::: a combination of the Aniruddha and Balarama aspects of the fourfold isvara (see BalaramaAniruddha) enjoying the world-game (lila) in a mood of divine childlikeness (balabhava).Aniruddha bh bhava
allfours ::: --> A game at cards, called "High, Low, Jack, and the Game."
alpha/beta pruning "games, algorithm" An optimisation of the {minimax} {algorithm} for choosing the next move in a two-player game. The position after each move is assigned a value. The larger this value, the better the position is for me. Thus, I will choose moves with maximum value and you will choose moves with minimum value (for me). If it is my move and I have already found one move M with value alpha then I am only interested in other moves with value greater than alpha. I now consider another of my possible moves, M', to which you could reply with a move with value beta. I know that you would only make a different reply if it had a value less than beta. If beta is already less than alpha then M' is definitely worth less than M so I can reject it without considering any other replies you might make. The same reasoning applies when considering my replies to your reply. An alpha cutoff is when your reply gives a lower value than the current maximum (alpha) and a beta cutoff is when my reply to your reply gives a higher value than the current minimum value of your reply (beta). In short, if you've found one possible move, you need not consider another move which your opponent can force to be worse than the first one. (1997-05-05)
amateur packet radio "communications" (PR) The use of {packet radio} by amateurs to communicate between computers. PR is a complete amateur radio computer network with "digipeaters" (relays), mailboxes (BBS) and other special nodes. In Germany, it is on HF, say, 2m (300 and 1200 BPS), 70cm (1200 to 9600 BPS), 23cm (normally 9600 BPS and up, currently most links between digipeaters) and higher frequencies. There is a KW (short wave) Packet Radio at 300 BPS, too. Satellites with OSCAR (Orbiting Sattelite Carring Amateur Radio) transponders (mostly attached to commercial satellites by the AMateur SATellite (AMSAT) group) carry Packet Radio mailboxes or {digipeaters}. There are both on-line and off-line services on the packet radio network: You can send {electronic mail}, read bulletins, chat, transfer files, connect to on-line DX-Clusters (DX=far distance) to catch notes typed in by other HAMs about the hottest international KW connections currently coming up (so you can pile up). PR uses {AX.25} (an {X.25} derivative) as its {transport layer} and sometimes even {TCP/IP} is transmitted over AX.25. AX.25 is like X.25 but the adressing uses HAM "calls" like "DG8MGV". There are special "wormholes" all over the world which "tunnel" amateur radio traffic through the {Internet} to forward mail. Sometimes mails travels over satelites. Normally amateur satellites have strange orbits, however the mail forwarding or mailbox satellites have very predictable orbits. Some wormholes allow HAMs to bridge from Internet to {AMPR-NET}, e.g. db0fho.ampr.org or db0fho.et-inf.fho-emden.de, but only if you are registered HAM. Because amateur radio is not for profit, it must not be interconnected to the {Internet} but it may be connected through the Internet. All people on the (completely free) amateur radio net must be licensed radio amateurs and must have a "call" which is unique all over the world. There is a special {domain} AMPR.ORG (44.*.*.*) for amateur radio reserved in the IP space. This domain is split between countries, which can further subdivide it. For example 44.130.*.* is Germany, 44.130.58.* is Augsburg (in Bavaria), and 44.130.58.20 is dg8mgv.ampr.org (you may verify this with {nslookup}). Mail transport is only one aspect of packet radio. You can talk interactively (as in {chat}), read files, or play silly games built in the Packet Radio software. Usually you can use the autorouter to let the digipeater network find a path to the station you want. However there are many (sometimes software incompatible) digipeaters out there, which the router cannot use. Paths over 1000 km are unlikely to be useable for {real-time} communication and long paths can introduce significant delay times (answer latency). Other uses of amateur radio for computer communication include {RTTY} ({baudot}), {AMTOR}, {PACTOR}, and {CLOVER}. {A huge hamradio archive (ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/hamradio/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:rec.radio.amateur.packet}. (2001-05-12)
Amiga "computer" A range of home computers first released by {Commodore Business Machines} in early 1985 (though they did not design the original - see below). Amigas were popular for {games}, {video processing}, and {multimedia}. One notable feature is a hardware {blitter} for speeding up graphics operations on whole areas of the screen. The Amiga was originally called the Lorraine, and was developed by a company named "Amiga" or "Amiga, Inc.", funded by some doctors to produce a killer game machine. After the US game machine market collapsed, the Amiga company sold some {joysticks} but no Lorraines or any other computer. They eventually floundered and looked for a buyer. Commodore at that time bought the (mostly complete) Amiga machine, infused some money, and pushed it through the final stages of development in a hurry. Commodore released it sometime[?] in 1985. Most components within the machine were known by nicknames. The {coprocessor} commonly called the "Copper" is in fact the "{Video} Timing Coprocessor" and is split between two chips: the instruction fetch and execute units are in the "Agnus" chip, and the {pixel} timing circuits are in the "Denise" chip (A for address, D for data). "Agnus" and "Denise" were responsible for effects timed to the {real-time} position of the video scan, such as midscreen {palette} changes, {sprite multiplying}, and {resolution} changes. Different versions (in order) were: "Agnus" (could only address 512K of {video RAM}), "Fat Agnus" (in a {PLCC} package, could access 1MB of video RAM), "Super Agnus" (slightly upgraded "Fat Agnus"). "Agnus" and "Fat Agnus" came in {PAL} and {NTSC} versions, "Super Agnus" came in one version, jumper selectable for PAL or NTSC. "Agnus" was replaced by "Alice" in the A4000 and A1200, which allowed for more {DMA} channels and higher bus {bandwidth}. "Denise" outputs binary video data (3*4 bits) to the "Vidiot". The "Vidiot" is a hybrid that combines and amplifies the 12-bit video data from "Denise" into {RGB} to the {monitor}. Other chips were "Amber" (a "flicker fixer", used in the A3000 and Commodore display enhancer for the A2000), "Gary" ({I/O}, addressing, G for {glue logic}), "Buster" (the {bus controller}, which replaced "Gary" in the A2000), "Buster II" (for handling the Zorro II/III cards in the A3000, which meant that "Gary" was back again), "Ramsey" (The {RAM} controller), "DMAC" (The DMA controller chip for the WD33C93 {SCSI adaptor} used in the A3000 and on the A2091/A2092 SCSI adaptor card for the A2000; and to control the {CD-ROM} in the {CDTV}), and "Paula" ({Peripheral}, Audio, {UART}, {interrupt} Lines, and {bus Arbiter}). There were several Amiga chipsets: the "Old Chipset" (OCS), the "Enhanced Chipset" (ECS), and {AGA}. OCS included "Paula", "Gary", "Denise", and "Agnus". ECS had the same "Paula", "Gary", "Agnus" (could address 2MB of Chip RAM), "Super Denise" (upgraded to support "Agnus" so that a few new {screen modes} were available). With the introduction of the {Amiga A600} "Gary" was replaced with "Gayle" (though the chipset was still called ECS). "Gayle" provided a number of improvments but the main one was support for the A600's {PCMCIA} port. The AGA chipset had "Agnus" with twice the speed and a 24-bit palette, maximum displayable: 8 bits (256 colours), although the famous "{HAM}" (Hold And Modify) trick allows pictures of 256,000 colours to be displayed. AGA's "Paula" and "Gayle" were unchanged but AGA "Denise" supported AGA "Agnus"'s new screen modes. Unfortunately, even AGA "Paula" did not support High Density {floppy disk drives}. (The Amiga 4000, though, did support high density drives.) In order to use a high density disk drive Amiga HD floppy drives spin at half the rotational speed thus halving the data rate to "Paula". Commodore Business Machines went bankrupt on 1994-04-29, the German company {Escom AG} bought the rights to the Amiga on 1995-04-21 and the Commodore Amiga became the Escom Amiga. In April 1996 Escom were reported to be making the {Amiga} range again but they too fell on hard times and {Gateway 2000} (now called Gateway) bought the Amiga brand on 1997-05-15. Gateway licensed the Amiga operating system to a German hardware company called {Phase 5} on 1998-03-09. The following day, Phase 5 announced the introduction of a four-processor {PowerPC} based Amiga {clone} called the "{pre\box}". Since then, it has been announced that the new operating system will be a version of {QNX}. On 1998-06-25, a company called {Access Innovations Ltd} announced {plans (http://micktinker.co.uk/aaplus.html)} to build a new Amiga chip set, the {AA+}, based partly on the AGA chips but with new fully 32-bit functional core and 16-bit AGA {hardware register emulation} for {backward compatibility}. The new core promised improved memory access and video display DMA. By the end of 2000, Amiga development was under the control of a [new?] company called {Amiga, Inc.}. As well as continuing development of AmigaOS (version 3.9 released in December 2000), their "Digital Environment" is a {virtual machine} for multiple {platforms} conforming to the {ZICO} specification. As of 2000, it ran on {MIPS}, {ARM}, {PPC}, and {x86} processors. {(http://amiga.com/)}. {Amiga Web Directory (http://cucug.org/amiga.html)}. {amiCrawler (http://amicrawler.com/)}. Newsgroups: {news:comp.binaries.amiga}, {news:comp.sources.amiga}, {news:comp.sys.amiga}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.advocacy}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.announce}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.applications}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.audio}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.datacomm}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.emulations}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.games}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.graphics}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.hardware}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.introduction}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.marketplace}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.misc}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.multimedia}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.programmer}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.reviews}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.tech}, {news:comp.sys.amiga.telecomm}, {news:comp.Unix.amiga}. See {aminet}, {Amoeba}, {bomb}, {exec}, {gronk}, {guru meditation}, {Intuition}, {sidecar}, {slap on the side}, {Vulcan nerve pinch}. (2003-07-05)
ante ::: n. --> Each player&
apollinarian ::: a. --> In honor of Apollo; as, the Apollinarian games. ::: n. --> A follower of Apollinaris, Bishop of Laodicea in the fourth century, who denied the proper humanity of Christ.
arayan.a ::: Narayan.a seen in relation to the cosmic game or lila as an aspect of the "divine Anandamaya personality" at play in the world.
artificial intelligence "artificial intelligence" (AI) The subfield of computer science concerned with the concepts and methods of {symbolic inference} by computer and symbolic {knowledge representation} for use in making inferences. AI can be seen as an attempt to model aspects of human thought on computers. It is also sometimes defined as trying to solve by computer any problem that a human can solve faster. The term was coined by Stanford Professor {John McCarthy}, a leading AI researcher. Examples of AI problems are {computer vision} (building a system that can understand images as well as a human) and {natural language processing} (building a system that can understand and speak a human language as well as a human). These may appear to be modular, but all attempts so far (1993) to solve them have foundered on the amount of context information and "intelligence" they seem to require. The term is often used as a selling point, e.g. to describe programming that drives the behaviour of computer characters in a game. This is often no more intelligent than "Kill any humans you see; keep walking; avoid solid objects; duck if a human with a gun can see you". See also {AI-complete}, {neats vs. scruffies}, {neural network}, {genetic programming}, {fuzzy computing}, {artificial life}. {ACM SIGART (http://sigart.acm.org/)}. {U Cal Davis (http://phobos.cs.ucdavis.edu:8001)}. {CMU Artificial Intelligence Repository (http://cs.cmu.edu/Web/Groups/AI/html/repository.html)}. (2002-01-19)
A rule-maker in a strange stumbling game.
asiarch ::: n. --> One of the chiefs or pontiffs of the Roman province of Asia, who had the superintendence of the public games and religious rites.
aspic ::: n. --> The venomous asp.
A piece of ordnance carrying a 12 pound shot.
A European species of lavender (Lavandula spica), which produces a volatile oil. See Spike.
A savory meat jelly containing portions of fowl, game, fish, hard boiled eggs, etc.
Atari "company, computer" A maker of arcade games, home video game systems, and home computers, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. Atari are best known for their range of 16- and 32-bit {microcomputers}, notable for having a built-in {MIDI} interface. As of February 1994 the range included the Atari 520ST, 1040ST, Mega ST, STe, STacy, Mega STe, TT, and Falcon. There are also emulators that run on the Apple {Macintosh} and {IBM PC}/XT/AT. Atari ceased to be a separate company in 1996 when merged with {JTS}. In 1998, JTS sold the Atari assets to Hasbro. In 2001, {Infogrames} North America operations officially changed their name to Atari. {(http://atarigames.com/)}. {Usenet newsgroups}: {news:comp.binaries.atari.st}, {news:comp.sys.atari.st.tech}, {news:comp.sources.atari.st}, {news:comp.sys.atari.st}, {news:comp.sys.atari.advocacy}, {news:comp.sys.atari.programmer}. {Michigan U (ftp://atari.archive.umich.edu)}, {UK (ftp://micros.hensa.ac.uk/)}, {Germany (ftp://ftp.Germany.EU.net)} [192.76.144.75], {Netherlands (ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/)} [131.211.80.17], {UK (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/systems/atari/umich)}. (2008-07-23)
Atari ST "computer" A {personal computer} released by {Atari} in 1985. The "ST" stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", from the {Motorola 68000}'s 16-bit {external bus} and 32-bit processor. The original 520ST model had an external {floppy drive} and power supply whereas the 1040ST had them built-in. The 520 and later 520STFM came with 512 KB of {RAM}, the 1040 had 1 MB. Several upgraded models followed, up to the 1993 {Motorola 68030} based {Falcon}. The ST was the first home computer with built-in {MIDI ports} and plenty of MIDI software. A wide range of other software from office to games was also available. (2006-10-30)
a ::: the world as a rapturous game of the anandamaya isvara / purus.a.
athlete ::: n. --> One who contended for a prize in the public games of ancient Greece or Rome.
Any one trained to contend in exercises requiring great physical agility and strength; one who has great activity and strength; a champion.
One fitted for, or skilled in, intellectual contests; as, athletes of debate.
athletic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to athletes or to the exercises practiced by them; as, athletic games or sports.
Befitting an athlete; strong; muscular; robust; vigorous; as, athletic Celts.
athleticism ::: n. --> The practice of engaging in athletic games; athletism.
athletics ::: n. --> The art of training by athletic exercises; the games and sports of athletes.
AVATARA ::: One in whom the Divine Consciousness has descended into human birth for a great world-work; the Incarnation; Spirit descending into man; Descent into form; the revelation of the Godhead in humanity; the Divine who has descended into the human consciousness; coming down of the Divine below the line which divides the divine from the human world or status.
An Avatar, roughly speaking, is one who is conscious of the presence and power of the Divine born in him or descended into him governing from within his will and life action; he feels identified inwardly with this divine power and presence.
He is a realiser, an establisher - not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embodied spirit through successive stages towards the Divine.
There are two sides of the phenomenon of avatarhood, the Divine Consciousness and the instrumental personality in Nature under the conditions of Nature which it uses according to the rules of the game.
The Avatar takes upon himself the nature of humanity in his instrumental parts, though the consciousness acting behind is divine.
avoid ::: a. --> To empty.
To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions.
To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from.
To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute.
To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters.
To get rid of.
To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication,
baccarat ::: n. --> A French game of cards, played by a banker and punters.
backgammon ::: n. --> A game of chance and skill, played by two persons on a "board" marked off into twenty-four spaces called "points". Each player has fifteen pieces, or "men", the movements of which from point to point are determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables. ::: v. i. --> In the game of backgammon, to beat by ending the
backsword ::: n. --> A sword with one sharp edge.
In England, a stick with a basket handle, used in rustic amusements; also, the game in which the stick is used. Also called singlestick.
badminton ::: n. --> A game, similar to lawn tennis, played with shuttlecocks.
A preparation of claret, spiced and sweetened.
bagatelle ::: n. --> A trifle; a thing of no importance.
A game played on an oblong board, having, at one end, cups or arches into or through which balls are to be driven by a rod held in the hand of the player.
bag ::: n. --> A sack or pouch, used for holding anything; as, a bag of meal or of money.
A sac, or dependent gland, in animal bodies, containing some fluid or other substance; as, the bag of poison in the mouth of some serpents; the bag of a cow.
A sort of silken purse formerly tied about men&
ball ::: n. --> Any round or roundish body or mass; a sphere or globe; as, a ball of twine; a ball of snow.
A spherical body of any substance or size used to play with, as by throwing, knocking, kicking, etc.
A general name for games in which a ball is thrown, kicked, or knocked. See Baseball, and Football.
Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a
band ::: v. t. --> A fillet, strap, or any narrow ligament with which a thing is encircled, or fastened, or by which a number of things are tied, bound together, or confined; a fetter.
A continuous tablet, stripe, or series of ornaments, as of carved foliage, of color, or of brickwork, etc.
In Gothic architecture, the molding, or suite of moldings, which encircles the pillars and small shafts.
That which serves as the means of union or connection
bandy ::: n. --> A carriage or cart used in India, esp. one drawn by bullocks.
A club bent at the lower part for striking a ball at play; a hockey stick.
The game played with such a club; hockey; shinney; bandy ball. ::: v. t.
barde ::: n. --> A piece of defensive (or, sometimes, ornamental) armor for a horse&
barleybreak ::: n. --> An ancient rural game, commonly played round stacks of barley, or other grain, in which some of the party attempt to catch others who run from a goal.
baseball ::: n. --> A game of ball, so called from the bases or bounds ( four in number) which designate the circuit which each player must endeavor to make after striking the ball.
The ball used in this game.
basset ::: n. --> A game at cards, resembling the modern faro, said to have been invented at Venice.
The edge of a geological stratum at the surface of the ground; the outcrop. ::: a. --> Inclined upward; as, the basset edge of strata.
batting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bat ::: n. --> The act of one who bats; the management of a bat in playing games of ball.
Cotton in sheets, prepared for use in making quilts, etc.; as, cotton batting.
battue ::: v. t. --> The act of beating the woods, bushes, etc., for game.
The game itself.
The wanton slaughter of game.
beagle ::: n. --> A small hound, or hunting dog, twelve to fifteen inches high, used in hunting hares and other small game. See Illustration in Appendix.
Fig.: A spy or detective; a constable.
beast ::: n. --> Any living creature; an animal; -- including man, insects, etc.
Any four-footed animal, that may be used for labor, food, or sport; as, a beast of burden.
As opposed to man: Any irrational animal.
Fig.: A coarse, brutal, filthy, or degraded fellow.
A game at cards similar to loo.
A penalty at beast, omber, etc. Hence: To be beasted, to be
beater ::: n. --> One who, or that which, beats.
A person who beats up game for the hunters.
bezique ::: n. --> A game at cards in which various combinations of cards in the hand, when declared, score points.
gamecock ::: n. --> The male game fowl.
gamed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Game
game fowl ::: --> A handsome breed of the common fowl, remarkable for the great courage and pugnacity of the males.
gameful ::: a. --> Full of game or games.
gamekeeper ::: n. --> One who has the care of game, especially in a park or preserve.
gameless ::: a. --> Destitute of game.
gamely ::: adv. --> In a plucky manner; spiritedly.
game ::: n. --> Crooked; lame; as, a game leg.
To rejoice; to be pleased; -- often used, in Old English, impersonally with dative.
To play at any sport or diversion.
To play for a stake or prize; to use cards, dice, billiards, or other instruments, according to certain rules, with a view to win money or other thing waged upon the issue of the contest; to gamble.
gameness ::: n. --> Endurance; pluck.
games "games" "The time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted." -- {Bertrand Russell}. Here are some games-related pages on the {Web}: {Imperial Nomic (http://mit.edu:8001/people/achmed/fascist/)}, {Thoth's games and recreations page (http://cis.ufl.edu/~thoth/library/recreation.html)}, {Games Domain (http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/GamesDomain)}, {Zarf's List of Games on the Web (http://leftfoot.com/games.html)}, {Dave's list of pointers to games resources (http://wcl-rs.bham.ac.uk/~djh/index.html)}, {Collaborative Fiction (http://asylum.cid.com/fiction/fiction.html)}. See also {3DO}, {ADL}, {ADVENT}, {ADVSYS}, {alpha/beta pruning}, {Amiga}, {CHIP-8}, {Core Wars}, {DROOL}, {empire}, {I see no X here.}, {Infocom}, {Inglish}, {initgame}, {life}, {minimax}, {moria}, {mudhead}, {multi-user Dimension}, {nethack}, {ogg}, {plugh}, {rogue}, {SPACEWAR}, {virtual reality}, {wizard mode}, {wumpus}, {xyzzy}, {ZIL}, {zorkmid}. See also {game theory}. (1996-03-03)
gamesome ::: a. --> Gay; sportive; playful; frolicsome; merry.
gamester ::: n. --> A merry, frolicsome person.
A person who plays at games; esp., one accustomed to play for a stake; a gambler; one skilled in games.
A prostitute; a strumpet.
game tree "games" A {tree} representing contingencies in a game. Each {node} in a game tree represents a possible position (e.g., possible configuration of pieces on a chessboard) in the game, and each branching ("edge" in graph terms) represents a possible move. (1998-11-14)
bias ::: n. --> A weight on the side of the ball used in the game of bowls, or a tendency imparted to the ball, which turns it from a straight line.
A leaning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent; inclination.
A wedge-shaped piece of cloth taken out of a garment (as the waist of a dress) to diminish its circumference.
A slant; a diagonal; as, to cut cloth on the bias.
billiard ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the game of billiards.
billiards ::: n. --> A game played with ivory balls o a cloth-covered, rectangular table, bounded by elastic cushions. The player seeks to impel his ball with his cue so that it shall either strike (carom upon) two other balls, or drive another ball into one of the pockets with which the table sometimes is furnished.
bird ::: n. --> Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2).
A warm-blooded, feathered vertebrate provided with wings. See Aves.
Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.
Fig.: A girl; a maiden. ::: v. i.
bisque ::: n. --> Unglazed white porcelain.
A point taken by the receiver of odds in the game of tennis; also, an extra innings allowed to a weaker player in croquet.
A white soup made of crayfish.
bivalve ::: n. --> A mollusk having a shell consisting of two lateral plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.
A pericarp in which the seed case opens or splits into two parts or valves.
bloodhound ::: n. --> A breed of large and powerful dogs, with long, smooth, and pendulous ears, and remarkable for acuteness of smell. It is employed to recover game or prey which has escaped wounded from a hunter, and for tracking criminals. Formerly it was used for pursuing runaway slaves. Other varieties of dog are often used for the same purpose and go by the same name. The Cuban bloodhound is said to be a variety of the mastiff.
blowpoint ::: n. --> A child&
board ::: a sheet of wood, cardboard, paper, or other material on which some games are played.
bonce ::: n. --> A boy&
bond ::: n. --> That which binds, ties, fastens, or confines, or by which anything is fastened or bound, as a cord, chain, etc.; a band; a ligament; a shackle or a manacle.
The state of being bound; imprisonment; captivity, restraint.
A binding force or influence; a cause of union; a uniting tie; as, the bonds of fellowship.
Moral or political duty or obligation.
A writing under seal, by which a person binds himself, his
boston ::: n. --> A game at cards, played by four persons, with two packs of fifty-two cards each; -- said to be so called from Boston, Massachusetts, and to have been invented by officers of the French army in America during the Revolutionary war.
bower ::: v. & n. --> One who bows or bends.
An anchor carried at the bow of a ship.
A muscle that bends a limb, esp. the arm. ::: n. --> One of the two highest cards in the pack commonly used in the game of euchre.
bowler ::: n. --> One who plays at bowls, or who rolls the ball in cricket or any other game.
bowling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bowl ::: n. --> The act of playing at or rolling bowls, or of rolling the ball at cricket; the game of bowls or of tenpins.
bowls ::: n. pl. --> See Bowl, a ball, a game.
brace ::: n. --> That which holds anything tightly or supports it firmly; a bandage or a prop.
A cord, ligament, or rod, for producing or maintaining tension, as a cord on the side of a drum.
The state of being braced or tight; tension.
A piece of material used to transmit, or change the direction of, weight or pressure; any one of the pieces, in a frame or truss, which divide the structure into triangular parts. It may act as
buckshot ::: n. --> A coarse leaden shot, larger than swan shot, used in hunting deer and large game.
bug "programming" An unwanted and unintended property of a {program} or piece of {hardware}, especially one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of {feature}. E.g. "There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backward." The identification and removal of bugs in a program is called "{debugging}". Admiral {Grace Hopper} (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing {COBOL}) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a {glitch} in the {Harvard Mark II machine} by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated {bug} in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the "Annals of the History of Computing", Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads "1545 Relay
bunko ::: n. --> A kind of swindling game or scheme, by means of cards or by a sham lottery.
bye ::: n. --> A thing not directly aimed at; something which is a secondary object of regard; an object by the way, etc.; as in on or upon the bye, i. e., in passing; indirectly; by implication.
A run made upon a missed ball; as, to steal a bye.
A dwelling.
In certain games, a station or place of an individual player.
caber ::: n. --> A pole or beam used in Scottish games for tossing as a trial of strength.
camping ::: p. pr. & vb n. --> of Camp ::: n. --> Lodging in a camp.
A game of football.
capot ::: n. --> A winning of all the tricks at the game of piquet. It counts for forty points. ::: v. t. --> To win all the tricks from, in playing at piquet.
CAPTCHA "security" A type of test used to determine whether a request to a {website} comes from a human or a computer program, typically by asking the user to perform some kind of {image recognition} task such as reading distorted text. The term was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas J. Hopper (all of {Carnegie Mellon University}) and John Langford (of {IBM}) as a contrived acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart". CAPTCHA aims to prevent software tools from performing actions which might degrade the service, such as registering user accounts or automating the playing of a game. (2009-01-02)
card ::: n. --> A piece of pasteboard, or thick paper, blank or prepared for various uses; as, a playing card; a visiting card; a card of invitation; pl. a game played with cards.
A published note, containing a brief statement, explanation, request, expression of thanks, or the like; as, to put a card in the newspapers. Also, a printed programme, and (fig.), an attraction or inducement; as, this will be a good card for the last day of the fair.
A paper on which the points of the compass are marked; the
carrow ::: n. --> A strolling gamester.
casino ::: n. --> A small country house.
A building or room used for meetings, or public amusements, for dancing, gaming, etc.
A game at cards. See Cassino.
cassino ::: n. --> A game at cards, played by two or more persons, usually for twenty-one points.
castle ::: n. --> A fortified residence, especially that of a prince or nobleman; a fortress.
Any strong, imposing, and stately mansion.
A small tower, as on a ship, or an elephant&
catstick ::: n. --> A stick or club employed in the game of ball called cat or tipcat.
cellular automaton "algorithm, parallel" (CA, plural "- automata") A regular spatial lattice of "cells", each of which can have any one of a finite number of states. The state of all cells in the lattice are updated simultaneously and the state of the entire lattice advances in discrete time steps. The state of each cell in the lattice is updated according to a local rule which may depend on the state of the cell and its neighbors at the previous time step. Each cell in a cellular automaton could be considered to be a {finite state machine} which takes its neighbours' states as input and outputs its own state. The best known example is J.H. Conway's game of {Life}. {FAQ (http://alife.santafe.edu/alife/topics/cas/ca-faq/ca-faq.html)}. {Usenet} newsgroups: {news:comp.theory.cell-automata}, {news:comp.theory.self-org-sys}. (1995-03-03)
cent ::: n. --> A hundred; as, ten per cent, the proportion of ten parts in a hundred.
A United States coin, the hundredth part of a dollar, formerly made of copper, now of copper, tin, and zinc.
An old game at cards, supposed to be like piquet; -- so called because 100 points won the game.
challenge ::: n. --> An invitation to engage in a contest or controversy of any kind; a defiance; specifically, a summons to fight a duel; also, the letter or message conveying the summons.
The act of a sentry in halting any one who appears at his post, and demanding the countersign.
A claim or demand.
The opening and crying of hounds at first finding the scent of their game.
channel "chat" (Or "chat room", "room", depending on the system in question) The basic unit of group discussion in {chat} systems like {IRC}. Once one joins a channel, everything one types is read by others on that channel. Channels can either be named with numbers or with strings that begin with a "
chappion ::: n. --> One who engages in any contest; esp. one who in ancient times contended in single combat in behalf of another&
charade ::: a game in which each syllable of a word, and then the whole word, is acted and the audience has to guess the word.
chase ::: v. t. --> To pursue for the purpose of killing or taking, as an enemy, or game; to hunt.
To follow as if to catch; to pursue; to compel to move on; to drive by following; to cause to fly; -- often with away or off; as, to chase the hens away.
To pursue eagerly, as hunters pursue game.
To ornament (a surface of metal) by embossing, cutting away parts, and the like.
checkers ::: v. --> A game, called also daughts, played on a checkerboard by two persons, each having twelve men (counters or checkers) which are moved diagonally. The game is ended when either of the players has lost all his men, or can not move them.
checker ::: v. t. --> One who checks.
A piece in the game of draughts or checkers.
A pattern in checks; a single check.
Checkerwork. ::: n. --> To mark with small squares like a checkerboard, as by
checkmate ::: n. --> The position in the game of chess when a king is in check and cannot be released, -- which ends the game.
A complete check; utter defeat or overthrow. ::: v. t. --> To check (an adversary&
chess "games" A two-player {game} with {perfect information}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:rec.games.chess}. See also {Internet Chess Server}. (1995-03-25)
chessboard ::: n. --> The board used in the game of chess, having eight rows of alternate light and dark squares, eight in each row. See Checkerboard.
chessman ::: n. --> A piece used in the game of chess.
chess ::: n. --> A game played on a chessboard, by two persons, with two differently colored sets of men, sixteen in each set. Each player has a king, a queen, two bishops, two knights, two castles or rooks, and eight pawns.
A species of brome grass (Bromus secalinus) which is a troublesome weed in wheat fields, and is often erroneously regarded as degenerate or changed wheat; it bears a very slight resemblance to oats, and if reaped and ground up with wheat, so as to be used for
chess-play ::: the game of chess; a board game for two players, each beginning with 16 pieces of six kinds that are moved according to individual rules, with the objective of checkmating the opposing king. chess-player.
CHIP-8 "language, games" A low-level {interpretive language} (really a high-level {machine code}) developed at {RCA} in the late 1970s for {video games} on computers using {RCA}'s {CDP1802} processor. It could also be used on the {DREAM 6800}. {Amiga interpreter (ftp://ftp.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/amiga/fish/f5/ff537/CHIP8.lzh)}. (2002-04-09)
chip ::: v. t. --> To cut small pieces from; to diminish or reduce to shape, by cutting away a little at a time; to hew.
To break or crack, or crack off a portion of, as of an eggshell in hatching, or a piece of crockery.
To bet, as with chips in the game of poker. ::: v. i.
circus ::: n. --> A level oblong space surrounded on three sides by seats of wood, earth, or stone, rising in tiers one above another, and divided lengthwise through the middle by a barrier around which the track or course was laid out. It was used for chariot races, games, and public shows.
A circular inclosure for the exhibition of feats of horsemanship, acrobatic displays, etc. Also, the company of performers, with their equipage.
clash ::: n. 1. A loud, harsh noise, such as that made by two metal objects in collision. 2. An encounter between hostile forces; a battle or skirmish. 3. A conflict, as between opposing or irreconcilable ideas. v. 4. To engage in a physical conflict or contest, as in a game or a battle (often followed by with). 5. To come into conflict; be in opposition. clashes, clashed, clashing.
closh ::: n. --> A disease in the feet of cattle; laminitis.
The game of ninepins.
clumps ::: n. --> A game in which questions are asked for the purpose of enabling the questioners to discover a word or thing previously selected by two persons who answer the questions; -- so called because the players take sides in two "clumps" or groups, the "clump" which guesses the word winning the game.
cobnut ::: n. --> A large roundish variety of the cultivated hazelnut.
A game played by children with nuts.
cockal ::: n. --> A game played with sheep&
cockfighting ::: n. --> The act or practice of pitting gamecocks to fight. ::: a. --> Addicted to cockfighting.
cockfight ::: n. --> A match or contest of gamecocks.
cockmaster ::: n. --> One who breeds gamecocks.
cockshy ::: n. --> A game in which trinkets are set upon sticks, to be thrown at by the players; -- so called from an ancient popular sport which consisted in "shying" or throwing cudgels at live cocks.
An object at which stones are flung.
codille ::: n. --> A term at omber, signifying that the game is won.
commerce ::: n. --> The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; esp. the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
Sexual intercourse.
A round game at cards, in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.
Compact Disc interactive "storage" (CD-i) An embedded application of {CD-ROM} allowing the user limited interaction with films, games and educational applications via a special {controller}. (1994-11-02)
console 1. "hardware, operating system, history" The {operator}'s station of a {mainframe} as opposed to an ordinary user's {terminal}. In times past, the console was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to anyone with fingers on its keys. Under {Unix} and other modern {time-sharing} {operating systems}, such privileges are guarded by {passwords} instead, and the console is just the {tty} the system was booted from. On Unix the device is called /dev/console. On a {microcomputer} {Unix} box, the console is the main screen and keyboard. Other, character-only, terminals may be connected to {serial ports}. Typically only the console can do real {graphics} or run {X}. See also {CTY}. 2. "games" A self-contained {microcomputer} optimised for gaming, with powerful graphical output designed to be displayed on a television; equipped with one or more {joystick} controllers for input and an {optical drive} to load software. Later generations also feature {Internet} connection via {wireless} or wired {Ethernet} for downloading games and multiplayer networked play. Typically such devices have no keyboard so text must be input using the controller to operate an on-screen keyboard, e.g. to enter player names. The most successful recent examples are the {Sony Playstation} and {Microsoft Xbox} families. [{Jargon File}] (2014-07-01)
Conway's Game of Life "simulation" The first popular {cellular automata} based {artificial life} simulation. Life was invented by British mathematician {John Horton Conway} in 1970 and was first introduced publicly in "Scientific American" later that year. Conway first devised what he called "The Game of Life" and "ran" it using plates placed on floor tiles in his house. Because of he ran out of floor space and kept stepping on the plates, he later moved to doing it on paper or on a checkerboard and then moved to running Life as a computer program on a {PDP-7}. That first implementation of Life as a computer program was written by M. J. T. Guy and {S. R. Bourne} (the author of {Unix}'s {Bourne shell}). Life uses a rectangular grid of binary (live or dead) cells each of which is updated at each step according to the previous state of its eight neighbours as follows: a live cell with less than two, or more than three, live neighbours dies. A dead cell with exactly three neighbours becomes alive. Other cells do not change. While the rules are fairly simple, the patterns that can arise are of a complexity resembling that of organic systems -- hence the name "Life". Many hackers pass through a stage of fascination with Life, and hackers at various places contributed heavily to the mathematical analysis of this game (most notably {Bill Gosper} at {MIT}, who even implemented Life in {TECO}!; see {Gosperism}). When a hacker mentions "life", he is more likely to mean this game than the magazine, the breakfast cereal, the 1950s-era board game or the human state of existence. {On-line implementation (http://pmav.eu/stuff/javascript-game-of-life-v3.1.1/)}. ["Scientific American" 223, October 1970, p120-123, 224; February 1971 p121-117, Martin Gardner]. ["The Garden in The Machine: the Emerging Science of Artificial Life", Claus Emmeche, 1994]. ["Winning Ways, For Your Mathematical Plays", Elwyn R. Berlekamp, John Horton Conway and Richard K. Guy, 1982]. ["The Recursive Universe: Cosmic Complexity and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge", William Poundstone, 1985]. [{Jargon File}] (1997-09-07)
Conway's Life {Conway's Game of Life}
copyright "legal" The exclusive rights of the owner of the copyright on a work to make and distribute copies, prepare derivative works, and perform and display the work in public (these last two mainly apply to plays, films, dances and the like, but could also apply to software). A work, including a piece of software, is under copyright by default in most coutries, whether of not it displays a copyright notice. However, a copyright notice may make it easier to assert ownership. The copyright owner is the person or company whose name appears in the copyright notice on the box, or the disk or the screen or wherever. Most countries have agreed to uphold each others' copyrights. A copyright notice has three parts. The first can be either the {copyright symbol} (a letter C in a circle), the word "Copyright" or the abbreviation "Copr". Only the first of these is recognised internationally and the common {ASCII} rendering "(C)" is not valid anywhere. This is followed by the name of the copyright holder and the year of publication. The year should be the year of _first_ publication, it is not necessary as some believe to update this every year to the current year. Copyright protection in most countries extends for 50 years after the author's death. Originally, most of the computer industry assumed that only the program's underlying instructions were protected under copyright law but, beginning in the early 1980s, a series of lawsuits involving the video screens of game programs extended protections to the appearance of programs. Use of copyright to restrict redistribution is immoral, unethical and illegitimate. It is a result of brainwashing by monopolists and corporate interests and it violates everyone's rights. Such use of copyrights and patents hamper technological progress by making a naturally abundant resource scarce. Many, from communists to right wing libertarians, are trying to abolish intellectual property myths. See also {public domain}, {copyleft}, {software law}. {Universal Copyright Convention (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-industries/copyright/)}. {US Copyright Office (http://copyright.gov/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:misc.legal.computing}. [Is this definition correct in the UK? In the US? Anywhere?] (2014-01-08)
Core War "games" (Or more recently, "Core Wars") A game played between {assembly code} programs running in the {core} of a simulated machine (and vicariously by their authors). The objective is to kill your opponents' programs by overwriting them. The programs are written using an {instruction set} called "{Redcode}" and run on a {virtual machine} called "{MARS}" (Memory Array Redcode Simulator). Core War was devised by Victor Vyssotsky, Robert Morris Sr., and {Dennis Ritchie} in the early 1960s (their original game was called "{Darwin}" and ran on a {PDP-1} at {Bell Labs}). It was first described in the "Core War Guidelines" of March, 1984 by D. G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Western Ontario (Canada). Dewdney wrote several "Computer Recreations" articles in "Scientific American" which discussed Core War, starting with the May 1984 article. Those articles are contained in the two anthologies cited below. A.K. Dewdney's articles are still the most readable introduction to Core War, even though the {Redcode} dialect described in there is no longer current. The International Core War Society (ICWS) creates and maintains Core War standards and the runs Core War tournaments. There have been six annual tournaments and two standards (ICWS'86 and ICWS'88). ["The Armchair Universe: An Exploration of Computer Worlds", A. K. Dewdney, W. H. Freeman, New York, 1988, ISBN 0-7167-1939-8, LCCN QA76.6 .D517 1988] ["The Magic Machine: A Handbook of Computer Sorcery", A. K. Dewdney, W. H. Freeman, New York, 1990, ISBN 0-7167-2125-2 (Hardcover), 0-7167-2144-9 (Paperback), LCCN QA76.6 .D5173 1990]. (1998-10-30)
correi ::: n. --> A hollow in the side of a hill, where game usually lies.
cotyloid ::: a. --> Shaped like a cup; as, the cotyloid cavity, which receives the head of the thigh bone.
Pertaining to a cotyloid cavity; as, the cotyloid ligament, or notch.
counters ::: anything used in keeping account, as a disk of metal or wood, used in some games, as checkers, for marking a player"s position or for keeping score.
coursing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Course ::: n. --> The pursuit or running game with dogs that follow by sight instead of by scent.
cover-point ::: n. --> The fielder in the games of cricket and lacrosse who supports "point."
covey ::: n. --> A brood or hatch of birds; an old bird with her brood of young; hence, a small flock or number of birds together; -- said of game; as, a covey of partridges.
A company; a bevy; as, a covey of girls.
A pantry. ::: v. i.
crambo ::: a. --> A game in which one person gives a word, to which another finds a rhyme.
A word rhyming with another word.
craps ::: n. --> A gambling game with dice.
cribbage ::: v. t. --> A game of cards, played by two or four persons, in which there is a crib. (See Crib, 11.) It is characterized by a great variety of chances.
cricket ::: n. --> An orthopterous insect of the genus Gryllus, and allied genera. The males make chirping, musical notes by rubbing together the basal parts of the veins of the front wings.
A low stool.
A game much played in England, and sometimes in America, with a ball, bats, and wickets, the players being arranged in two contesting parties or sides.
A small false roof, or the raising of a portion of a roof,
crisscross ::: n. --> A mark or cross, as the signature of a person who is unable to write.
A child&
croquet ::: n. --> An open-air game in which two or more players endeavor to drive wooden balls, by means of mallets, through a series of hoops or arches set in the ground according to some pattern.
The act of croqueting. ::: v. t. --> In the game of croquet, to drive away an opponent&
cross-purpose ::: n. --> A counter or opposing purpose; hence, that which is inconsistent or contradictory.
A conversational game, in which questions and answers are made so as to involve ludicrous combinations of ideas.
crucial ::: a. --> Having the form of a cross; appertaining to a cross; cruciform; intersecting; as, crucial ligaments; a crucial incision.
Severe; trying or searching, as if bringing to the cross; decisive; as, a crucial test.
curler ::: n. --> One who, or that which, curls.
A player at the game called curling.
curling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Curl ::: n. --> The act or state of that which curls; as, the curling of smoke when it rises; the curling of a ringlet; also, the act or process of one who curls something, as hair, or the brim of hats.
A scottish game in which heavy weights of stone or iron
dam ::: n. --> A female parent; -- used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother.
A kind or crowned piece in the game of draughts.
A barrier to prevent the flow of a liquid; esp., a bank of earth, or wall of any kind, as of masonry or wood, built across a water course, to confine and keep back flowing water.
A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.
dart ::: n. 1. A small, slender missile that is pointed at one end and usually feathered at the other and is propelled by hand, as in the game of darts, or by a blowgun when used as a weapon. 2. Something similar in function to such a missile, as the stinging member of an insect. *v. 2. To thrust or move suddenly or rapidly.* darts.
DDL 1. ["A Digital System Design Language (DDL)", J.R. Duley, IEEE Trans on Computers c-17(9), pp. 850-861, Sep 1968]. 2. "language, games" An {adventure} language developed by M. Urban, C. Kostanick et al of the {UCLA} Computer Club. DDL was the forerunner of {ADL}. 3. {Data Definition Language}. 4. {Document Description Language}. 5. {Dynamic Data Exchange}. (Originally "Linking"). (1997-06-05)
decennial ::: a. --> Consisting of ten years; happening every ten years; as, a decennial period; decennial games. ::: n. --> A tenth year or tenth anniversary.
deckle /dek'l/ (From "dec-" and "{nibble}"; the original spelling seems to have been "decle") Two {nickles}; 10 {bits}. Reported among developers for {Mattel}'s {GI 1600} (the {Intellivision} games processor), a chip with 16-bit wide {RAM} but 10-bit wide {ROM}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-11-23)
Deep Blue "computer" A super computer developed by researchers at {IBM} to explore the use of {parallel processing} to solve complex computing problems. It is known as the first computer to beat the current chess World Grand Master. Deep Blue started it's life as a PhD project at {Carnegie Mellon University} by PhD students Feng-hsiung Hsu and Murray Campbell. Chiptest, as it was known then, consisted of a custom designed chip hosted in a {Sun} 3/160 computer. The project moved over to IBM in 1989 when Hsu and Campbell joined IBM. {Deep Thought}, as it was known by then, played for the first time against Garry Kasparov in the same year. The game of two matches was easily won by Kasparov. The next match against Kasparov took place in February 1996. By then the machine was again renamed, at that time it was known as Deep Blue. It was also heavily re-engineered: it was by then running on a 32-node {RS/6000} cluster, each containing 8 custom designed chips. Alas, Kasparov won again. The breakthrough finally happened in February 1997: with both the algorithm and the raw speed significantly improved, Deep Blue beat Kasparov 3.5:2.5. {HOME (http://chess.ibm.com)}. (1997-06-16)
demigod "person" A hacker with years of experience, a national reputation, and a major role in the development of at least one design, tool, or game used by or known to more than half of the hacker community. To qualify as a genuine demigod, the person must recognisably identify with the hacker community and have helped shape it. Major demigods include {Ken Thompson} and {Dennis Ritchie} (co-inventors of {Unix} and {C}) and {Richard Stallman} (inventor of {Emacs}). In their hearts of hearts, most hackers dream of someday becoming demigods themselves, and more than one major software project has been driven to completion by the author's veiled hopes of apotheosis. See also {net.god}, {true-hacker}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-10-27)
demo mode ({Sun}) 1. The state of being {heads down} in order to finish code in time for a {demo}, usually due yesterday. 2. "games" (Or "attract mode") A mode in which video games sit by themselves running through a portion of the game. Some serious {apps} have a demo mode they use as a screen saver, or may go through a demo mode on startup (for example, the {Microsoft Windows} opening screen - which lets you impress your neighbors without actually having to put up with {Microsloth Windows}). [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-22)
desmoid ::: a. --> Resembling, or having the characteristics of, a ligament; ligamentous.
desmology ::: n. --> The science which treats of the ligaments.
deuce ::: n. --> Two; a card or a die with two spots; as, the deuce of hearts.
A condition of the score beginning whenever each side has won three strokes in the same game (also reckoned "40 all"), and reverted to as often as a tie is made until one of the sides secures two successive strokes following a tie or deuce, which decides the game.
The devil; a demon.
dibstone ::: n. --> A pebble used in a child&
dib ::: v. i. --> To dip. ::: n. --> One of the small bones in the knee joints of sheep uniting the bones above and below the joints.
A child&
dice ::: n. --> Small cubes used in gaming or in determining by chance; also, the game played with dice. See Die, n. ::: v. i. --> To play games with dice.
To ornament with squares, diamonds, or cubes.
dicer ::: n. --> A player at dice; a dice player; a gamester.
DirectX "programming, hardware" A {Microsoft} programming interface {standard}, first included with {Windows 95}. DirectX gives (games) programmers a standard way to gain direct access to enhanced hardware features under Windows 95 instead of going via the Windows 95 {GDI}. Some DirectX code runs faster than the equivalent under {MS DOS}. DirectX promises performance improvements for graphics, sound, video, 3D, and network capabilites of games, but only where both hardware and software support DirectX. DirectX 2 introduced the Direct3D interface. Version 5 was current at 1998-02-01. Version 8.1 is included in {Windows XP}. {(http://microsoft.com/directx/)}. (2001-12-31)
djerrid ::: n. --> A blunt javelin used in military games in Moslem countries.
A game played with it.
doddart ::: n. --> A game much like hockey, played in an open field; also, the, bent stick for playing the game.
dogwash /dog'wosh/ (A quip in the "urgency" field of a very optional software change request, ca. 1982. It was something like "Urgency: Wash your dog first") A project of minimal priority, undertaken as an escape from more serious work. Many games and much {freeware} get written this way, including {this dictionary}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-08)
DOOM "games" A simulated 3D moster-hunting action game for {IBM PCs}, created and published by {id Software}. The original press release was dated January 1993. A cut-down shareware version v1.0 was released on 10 December 1993 and again with some bug-fixes, as v1.4 in June 1994. DOOM is similar to Wolfenstein 3d (id Software, Apogee) but has better {texture mapping}; walls can be at any angle, of any thickness and have windows; lighting can fade into the distance or come from point sources; floors and ceilings can be of any height; many surfaces are animated; up to four players can play over a network or two by serial link; it has a high {frame rate} (comparable to TV on a {486}/33); DOOM isn't just a collection of connected closed rooms like Wolfenstein but sounds can travel anywhere and alert monsters of your approach. The shareware version is available from these sites: {Cactus (ftp://cactus.org/pub/IHHD/multi-player/)}, {Manitoba (ftp://ftp.cc.umanitoba.ca/pub/doom/)}, {UK (ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/ibmpc/games/id/)}, {South Africa (ftp://ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/msdos/games/id/)}, {UWP ftp (ftp://archive.uwp.edu/pub/msdos/games/id/)}, {UWP http (http://archive.uwp.edu/pub/msdos/games/id/)}, {Finland (ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/msdos/games/id)}, {Washington (ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/doom)}. A {FAQ} by Hank Leukart: {UWP (ftp://ftp.uwp.edu/pub/msdos/games/id/home-brew/doom)}, {Washington (ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/doomstuff)}. {FAQ on WWW (http://venom.st.hmc.edu/~tkelly/doomfaq/intro.html)}. {Other links (http://gamesdomain.co.uk/descript/doom.html)}. {Usenet} newsgroups: {news:rec.games.computer.doom.announce}, {news:rec.games.computer.doom.editing}, {news:rec.games.computer.doom.help}, {news:rec.games.computer.doom.misc}, {news:rec.games.computer.doom.playing}, {news:alt.games.doom}, {news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action}, {news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.announce}, {news:comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc}. Mailing List: "listserv@cedar.univie.ac.at" ("sub DOOML" in the message body, no subject). Telephone: +44 (1222) 362 361 - the UK's first multi-player DOOM and games server. (1994-12-14)
Dragon Book "publication" The classic text "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools", by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman (Addison-Wesley 1986; ISBN 0-201-10088-6). So called because of the cover design featuring a dragon labelled "complexity of compiler design" and a knight bearing the lance "LALR parser generator" among his other trappings. This one is more specifically known as the "Red Dragon Book" (1986); an earlier edition, sans Sethi and titled "Principles Of Compiler Design" (Alfred V. Aho and Jeffrey D. Ullman; Addison-Wesley, 1977; ISBN 0-201-00022-9), was the "Green Dragon Book" (1977). (Also "New Dragon Book", "Old Dragon Book".) The horsed knight and the Green Dragon were warily eying each other at a distance; now the knight is typing (wearing gauntlets!) at a terminal showing a video-game representation of the Red Dragon's head while the rest of the beast extends back in normal space. See also {book titles}. (1996-12-03)
draughtsman ::: n. --> One who draws pleadings or other writings.
One who draws plans and sketches of machinery, structures, and places; also, more generally, one who makes drawings of any kind.
A "man" or piece used in the game of draughts.
One who drinks drams; a tippler.
draughts ::: n. pl. --> A mild vesicatory. See Draught, n., 3 (c).
A game, now more commonly called checkers. See Checkers.
drawgloves ::: n. pl. --> An old game, played by holding up the fingers.
DROOL "games" Dave's Recycled Object-Oriented Language. Language for writing adventure games. An updated implementation of AdvSys. {multiple inheritance}, garbage collection. ["Dave's Recycled OO Language", David Betz, Dr. Dobbs J, Oct 1993, pp.74-78].
dropper ::: n. --> One who, or that which, drops. Specif.: (Fishing) A fly that drops from the leaden above the bob or end fly.
A dropping tube.
A branch vein which drops off from, or leaves, the main lode.
A dog which suddenly drops upon the ground when it sights game, -- formerly a common, and still an occasional, habit of the setter.
dryfoot ::: n. --> The scent of the game, as far as it can be traced.
dust-point ::: n. --> An old rural game.
DV cartridge "games" (Digital Video?) A plug-in circuit cartridge required by some games consoles in order to play {MPEG} video material. (1994-11-02)
ecarte ::: n. --> A game at cards, played usually by two persons, in which the players may discard any or all of the cards dealt and receive others from the pack.
empire "games" Any of a family of military simulations derived from a game written by Peter Langston many years ago. Five or six multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication exist, and one single-player version implemented for both {Unix} and {VMS}; the latter is even available as {MS-DOS} {freeware}. All are notoriously addictive. [{Jargon File}] (1995-08-06)
equestrian ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to horses or horsemen, or to horsemanship; as, equestrian feats, or games.
Being or riding on horseback; mounted; as, an equestrian statue.
Belonging to, or composed of, the ancient Roman equities or knights; as, the equestrian order. ::: n.
euchre ::: n. --> A game at cards, that may be played by two, three, or four persons, the highest card (except when an extra card called the Joker is used) being the knave of the same suit as the trump, and called right bower, the lowest card used being the seven, or frequently, in two-handed euchre, the nine spot. See Bower. ::: v. t.
extracapsular ::: a. --> Situated outside of a capsule, esp. outside the capsular ligament of a joint.
faction ::: n. --> One of the divisions or parties of charioteers (distinguished by their colors) in the games of the circus.
A party, in political society, combined or acting in union, in opposition to the government, or state; -- usually applied to a minority, but it may be applied to a majority; a combination or clique of partisans of any kind, acting for their own interests, especially if greedy, clamorous, and reckless of the common good.
Tumult; discord; dissension.
falconer ::: n. --> A person who breeds or trains hawks for taking birds or game; one who follows the sport of fowling with hawks.
falcon ::: n. --> One of a family (Falconidae) of raptorial birds, characterized by a short, hooked beak, strong claws, and powerful flight.
Any species of the genus Falco, distinguished by having a toothlike lobe on the upper mandible; especially, one of this genus trained to the pursuit of other birds, or game.
An ancient form of cannon.
falconry ::: n. --> The art of training falcons or hawks to pursue and attack wild fowl or game.
The sport of taking wild fowl or game by means of falcons or hawks.
faradise /far'*-di:z/ [US Geological Survey] To start any hyper-addictive process or trend, or to continue adding current to such a trend. Telling one user about a new octo-tetris game you compiled would be a faradising act - in two weeks you might find your entire department playing the faradic game.
faro ::: n. --> A gambling game at cardds, in whiich all the other players play against the dealer or banker, staking their money upon the order in which the cards will lie and be dealt from the pack.
feep /feep/ 1. The soft electronic "bell" sound of a display terminal (except for a VT-52); a beep (in fact, the microcomputer world seems to prefer {beep}). 2. To cause the display to make a feep sound. ASR-33s (the original TTYs) do not feep; they have mechanical bells that ring. Alternate forms: {beep}, "bleep", or just about anything suitably onomatopoeic. (Jeff MacNelly, in his comic strip "Shoe", uses the word "eep" for sounds made by computer terminals and video games; this is perhaps the closest written approximation yet.) The term "breedle" was sometimes heard at SAIL, where the terminal bleepers are not particularly soft (they sound more like the musical equivalent of a raspberry or Bronx cheer; for a close approximation, imagine the sound of a Star Trek communicator's beep lasting for five seconds). The "feeper" on a VT-52 has been compared to the sound of a '52 Chevy stripping its gears. See also {ding}. [{Jargon File}]
fencepost error 1. (Rarely "lamp-post error") A problem with the discrete equivalent of a {boundary condition}, often exhibited in programs by iterative loops. From the following problem: "If you build a fence 100 feet long with posts 10 feet apart, how many posts do you need?" (Either 9 or 11 is a better answer than the obvious 10). For example, suppose you have a long list or array of items, and want to process items m through n; how many items are there? The obvious answer is n - m, but that is off by one; the right answer is n - m + 1. The "obvious" formula exhibits a fencepost error. See also {zeroth} and note that not all {off-by-one errors} are fencepost errors. The game of Musical Chairs involves a catastrophic off-by-one error where N people try to sit in N - 1 chairs, but it's not a fencepost error. Fencepost errors come from counting things rather than the spaces between them, or vice versa, or by neglecting to consider whether one should count one or both ends of a row. 2. (Rare) An error induced by unexpected regularities in input values, which can (for instance) completely thwart a theoretically efficient {binary tree} or {hash coding} implementation. The error here involves the difference between expected and worst case behaviours of an {algorithm}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-01)
fish ::: n. --> A counter, used in various games.
A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.
An oviparous, vertebrate animal usually having fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See Pisces.
The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces.
The flesh of fish, used as food.
fives ::: n. pl. --> A kind of play with a ball against a wall, resembling tennis; -- so named because three fives, or fifteen, are counted to the game. ::: n. --> A disease of the glands under the ear in horses; the vives.
flapdragon ::: n. --> A game in which the players catch raisins out burning brandy, and swallow them blazing.
The thing thus caught and eaten. ::: v. t. --> To swallow whole, as a flapdragon; to devour.
floral ::: a. --> Pertaining to Flora, or to flowers; made of flowers; as, floral games, wreaths.
Containing, or belonging to, a flower; as, a floral bud; a floral leaf; floral characters.
foiling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Foil ::: n. --> A foil.
The track of game (as deer) in the grass.
football ::: n. --> An inflated ball to be kicked in sport, usually made in India rubber, or a bladder incased in Leather.
The game of kicking the football by opposing parties of players between goals.
foregame ::: n. --> A first game; first plan.
forester ::: n. --> One who has charge of the growing timber on an estate; an officer appointed to watch a forest and preserve the game.
An inhabitant of a forest.
A forest tree.
A lepidopterous insect belonging to Alypia and allied genera; as, the eight-spotted forester (A. octomaculata), which in the larval state is injurious to the grapevine.
forest ::: n. --> An extensive wood; a large tract of land covered with trees; in the United States, a wood of native growth, or a tract of woodland which has never been cultivated.
A large extent or precinct of country, generally waste and woody, belonging to the sovereign, set apart for the keeping of game for his use, not inclosed, but distinguished by certain limits, and protected by certain laws, courts, and officers of its own.
forfeit ::: n. --> Injury; wrong; mischief.
A thing forfeit or forfeited; what is or may be taken from one in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, offense, neglect of duty, or breach of contract; hence, a fine; a mulct; a penalty; as, he who murders pays the forfeit of his life.
Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine; -- whence the game of forfeits.
fourhanded ::: a. --> Having four hands; quadrumanous.
Requiring four "hands" or players; as, a fourhanded game at cards.
fowl ::: n. --> Any bird; esp., any large edible bird.
Any domesticated bird used as food, as a hen, turkey, duck; in a more restricted sense, the common domestic cock or hen (Gallus domesticus). ::: v. i. --> To catch or kill wild fowl, for game or food, as by
Fraps "application, video" A {Windows} application that can be used with games using {DirectX} or {OpenGL} to display the current screen redraw rate in frames per second (FPS). Fraps can also measure the frame rate between any two points and can capture stills, audio and video to disk. {Fraps Home (http://fraps.com/)}. (2006-07-12)
full-motion video "video" (FMV) Any kind of {video} that is theoretically capable of changing the entire content on the screen fast enough that the transitions are not obvious to the human eye, i.e. about 24 times a second or more. In practise most {video encoding} relies on the fact that in most video there is relatively little change from one {frame} to the next. This allows for {compression} of the video data. The term is used, chiefly in {computer games}, in contrast to techniques such as the use of {sprites} that move against a more-or-less fixed background. (2011-01-04)
fumette ::: n. --> The stench or high flavor of game or other meat when kept long.
funicular ::: a. --> Consisting of a small cord or fiber.
Dependent on the tension of a cord.
Pertaining to a funiculus; made up of, or resembling, a funiculus, or funiculi; as, a funicular ligament.
futz "jargon" ("futzing around") To waste time on activity that is often experimental and may or may not be productive. Not normally used for game playing. (2008-11-27)
fweep ({WPI}) One step below a {gweep}, a person who uses the system solely to play games and use {electronic mail}. Compare {dweeb}, {twink}, {terminal junkie}, {tourist}, {weenie}. (1995-01-31)
gablock ::: n. --> A false spur or gaff, fitted on the heel of a gamecock.
gadwall ::: n. --> A large duck (Anas strepera), valued as a game bird, found in the northern parts of Europe and America; -- called also gray duck.
gaffle ::: n. --> An artificial spur or gaff for gamecocks.
A lever to bend crossbows.
gambit ::: n. --> A mode of opening the game, in which a pawn is sacrificed to gain an attacking position.
gamble ::: v. i. --> To play or game for money or other stake. ::: v. t. --> To lose or squander by gaming; -- usually with away.
gaming ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Game ::: n. --> The act or practice of playing games for stakes or wagers; gambling.
gamy ::: a. --> Having the flavor of game, esp. of game kept uncooked till near the condition of tainting; high-flavored.
Showing an unyielding spirit to the last; plucky; furnishing sport; as, a gamy trout.
gastrophrenic ::: a. --> Pertaining to the stomach and diaphragm; as, the gastrophrenic ligament.
gastrosplenic ::: n. --> Pertaining to the stomach and spleen; as, the gastrosplenic ligament.
GE Information Services "networking, company" One of the leading on-line services, started on 1st October 1985, providing subscribers with hundreds of special interest areas, computer hardware and software support, award-winning multi-player games, the most software files in the industry (over 200 000), worldwide news, sports updates, business news, investment strategies, and {Internet} {electronic mail} and fax (GE Mail). Interactive conversations (Chat Lines) and {bulletin boards} (Round Tables) with associated software archives are also provided. GEnie databases (through the ARTIST gateway) allow users to search the full text of thousands of publications, including Dun & Bradstreet Company Profiles; a GEnie NewsStand with more than 900 newspapers, magazines, and newsletters; a Reference Center with information ranging from Agriculture to World History; the latest in medical information from MEDLINE; and patent and trademark registrations. {(http://genie.com/)}. {Shopping 2000 (http://shopping2000.com/shopping2000/genie/)}. Telephone: +1 (800) 638 9636. TDD: +1 (800) 238 9172. E-mail: "info@genie.geis.com". [Connection with: GE Information Services, Inc., a division of General Electric Company, Headquarters: Rockville, Maryland, USA?] (1995-04-13)
gelatine ::: n. --> Animal jelly; glutinous material obtained from animal tissues by prolonged boiling. Specifically (Physiol. Chem.), a nitrogeneous colloid, not existing as such in the animal body, but formed by the hydrating action of boiling water on the collagen of various kinds of connective tissue (as tendons, bones, ligaments, etc.). Its distinguishing character is that of dissolving in hot water, and forming a jelly on cooling. It is an important ingredient of calf&
genetic programming "programming" (GP) A programming technique which extends the {genetic algorithm} to the domain of whole computer programs. In GP, populations of programs are genetically bred to solve problems. Genetic programming can solve problems of system identification, classification, control, robotics, optimisation, game playing, and {pattern recognition}. Starting with a primordial ooze of hundreds or thousands of randomly created programs composed of functions and terminals appropriate to the problem, the population is progressively evolved over a series of generations by applying the operations of Darwinian fitness proportionate reproduction and crossover (sexual recombination). (1995-03-31)
gibbier ::: n. --> Wild fowl; game.
gin ::: a snare or trap for game.
gleek ::: n. --> A jest or scoff; a trick or deception.
An enticing look or glance.
A game at cards, once popular, played by three persons.
Three of the same cards held in the same hand; -- hence, three of anything. ::: v. i.
goal ::: n. --> The mark set to bound a race, and to or around which the constestants run, or from which they start to return to it again; the place at which a race or a journey is to end.
The final purpose or aim; the end to which a design tends, or which a person aims to reach or attain.
A base, station, or bound used in various games; in football, a line between two posts across which the ball must pass in order to score; also, the act of kicking the ball over the line between the goal
Go "games, application" A thinking game with an oriental origin estimated to be around 4000 years old. Nowadays, the game is played by millions of people in (most notably) China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In the Western world the game is practised by a yearly increasing number of players. On the {Internet} Go players meet, play and talk 24 hours/day on the {Internet Go Server} (IGS). {(http://cwi.nl/~jansteen/go/go.html)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:rec.games.go}. (1995-03-17)
godwit ::: n. --> One of several species of long-billed, wading birds of the genus Limosa, and family Tringidae. The European black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), the American marbled godwit (L. fedoa), the Hudsonian godwit (L. haemastica), and others, are valued as game birds. Called also godwin.
goff ::: n. --> A silly clown.
A game. See Golf.
golf ::: n. --> A game played with a small ball and a bat or club crooked at the lower end. He who drives the ball into each of a series of small holes in the ground and brings it into the last hole with the fewest strokes is the winner.
gout ::: n. --> A drop; a clot or coagulation.
A constitutional disease, occurring by paroxysms. It consists in an inflammation of the fibrous and ligamentous parts of the joints, and almost always attacks first the great toe, next the smaller joints, after which it may attack the greater articulations. It is attended with various sympathetic phenomena, particularly in the digestive organs. It may also attack internal organs, as the stomach, the intestines, etc.
graphics "graphics" Any kind of visible output including {text}, {images}, {movies}, {line art} and {digital photographs}; stored in {bitmap} or {vector graphic} form. Most modern computers can display non-{text} data and most use a {graphical user interface} (GUI) for virtually all interaction with the user. Special {hardware}, typically some kind of {graphics adaptor}, is required to allow the computer to display graphics (as opposed to, say, printing text on a {teletype}) but since GUIs became ubiquitous this has become the default form of visual output. The most demanding applications for computer graphics are those where the computer actually generates moving images in {real time}, especially in {video games}. There are many kinds of {software} devoted to manipulating graphical data, including image editing (e.g. {Photoshop}), {drawing} (e.g. {Illustrator}), user interface toolkits (e.g. {X Window System}), {CAD}, {CGI}. (2009-06-24)
grayling ::: a. --> A European fish (Thymallus vulgaris), allied to the trout, but having a very broad dorsal fin; -- called also umber. It inhabits cold mountain streams, and is valued as a game fish.
An American fish of the genus Thymallus, having similar habits to the above; one species (T. Ontariensis), inhabits several streams in Michigan; another (T. montanus), is found in the Yellowstone region.
grick /grik/ ({WPI}, first used by Tim Haven to describe "grick trigonometry", a shortcut method of determing attack angles in grid-based games like Star Trek) Any integral increment of measurement. E.g. "Please turn the stereo up a few gricks". (1995-01-31)
gunning ::: n. --> The act or practice of hunting or shooting game with a gun.
guru meditation "operating system" The {Amiga} equivalent of {Unix}'s {panic} (sometimes just called a "guru" or "guru event"). When the system crashes, a cryptic message of the form "GURU MEDITATION
gymnastical ::: a. --> Pertaining to athletic exercises intended for health, defense, or diversion; -- said of games or exercises, as running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the discus, the javelin, etc.; also, pertaining to disciplinary exercises for the intellect; athletic; as, gymnastic exercises, contests, etc.
hack "jargon" 1. Originally, a quick job that produces what is needed, but not well. 2. An incredibly good, and perhaps very time-consuming, piece of work that produces exactly what is needed. 3. To bear emotionally or physically. "I can't hack this heat!" 4. To work on something (typically a program). In an immediate sense: "What are you doing?" "I'm hacking TECO." In a general (time-extended) sense: "What do you do around here?" "I hack TECO." More generally, "I hack "foo"" is roughly equivalent to ""foo" is my major interest (or project)". "I hack solid-state physics." See {Hacking X for Y}. 5. To pull a prank on. See {hacker}. 6. To interact with a computer in a playful and exploratory rather than goal-directed way. "Whatcha up to?" "Oh, just hacking." 7. Short for {hacker}. 8. See {nethack}. 9. (MIT) To explore the basements, roof ledges, and steam tunnels of a large, institutional building, to the dismay of Physical Plant workers and (since this is usually performed at educational institutions) the Campus Police. This activity has been found to be eerily similar to playing adventure games such as {Dungeons and Dragons} and {Zork}. See also {vadding}. See also {neat hack}, {real hack}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-08-26)
hazarder ::: n. --> A player at the game of hazard; a gamester.
One who hazards or ventures.
hazard ::: n. --> A game of chance played with dice.
The uncertain result of throwing a die; hence, a fortuitous event; chance; accident; casualty.
Risk; danger; peril; as, he encountered the enemy at the hazard of his reputation and life.
Holing a ball, whether the object ball (winning hazard) or the player&
hellanodic ::: n. --> A judge or umpire in games or combats.
hello, sailor! "jargon" Occasional West Coast equivalent of {hello, world}; seems to have originated at SAIL, later associated with the game {Zork} (which also included "hello, aviator" and "hello, implementor"). Originally from the traditional hooker's greeting to a swabbie fresh off the boat, of course. [{Jargon File}] (2007-10-30)
hell ::: v. t. --> The place of the dead, or of souls after death; the grave; -- called in Hebrew sheol, and by the Greeks hades.
The place or state of punishment for the wicked after death; the abode of evil spirits. Hence, any mental torment; anguish.
A place where outcast persons or things are gathered
A dungeon or prison; also, in certain running games, a place to which those who are caught are carried for detention.
A gambling house.
hepatorenal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the liver and kidneys; as, the hepatorenal ligament.
hide-and-seek ::: a children"s game in which one player tries to find and catch others who are hiding.
hing ({IRC}) Fortuitous typo for "hint", now in wide intentional use among players of {initgame}. Compare {newsfroup}, {filk}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-07)
hockey ::: n. --> A game in which two parties of players, armed with sticks curved or hooked at the end, attempt to drive any small object (as a ball or a bit of wood) toward opposite goals.
The stick used by the players.
hoodman ::: n. --> The person blindfolded in the game called hoodman-blind.
hopper ::: n. --> One who, or that which, hops.
A chute, box, or receptacle, usually funnel-shaped with an opening at the lower part, for delivering or feeding any material, as to a machine; as, the wooden box with its trough through which grain passes into a mill by joining or shaking, or a funnel through which fuel passes into a furnace, or coal, etc., into a car.
See Grasshopper, 2.
A game. See Hopscotch.
hopscotch ::: n. --> A child&
hound ::: n. --> A variety of the domestic dog, usually having large, drooping ears, esp. one which hunts game by scent, as the foxhound, bloodhound, deerhound, but also used for various breeds of fleet hunting dogs, as the greyhound, boarhound, etc.
A despicable person.
A houndfish.
Projections at the masthead, serving as a support for the trestletrees and top to rest on.
hunter ::: n. --> One who hunts wild animals either for sport or for food; a huntsman.
A dog that scents game, or is trained to the chase; a hunting dog.
A horse used in the chase; especially, a thoroughbred, bred and trained for hunting.
One who hunts or seeks after anything, as if for game; as, a fortune hunter a place hunter.
hunting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hunt ::: n. --> The pursuit of game or of wild animals.
Hunt the Wumpus "games, history" (Or "Wumpus") /wuhm'p*s/ A famous fantasy computer game, created by {Gregory Yob} in about 1973. Hunt the Wumpus appeared in Creative Computing, Vol 1, No 5, Sep - Oct 1975, where Yob says he had come up with the game two years previously, after seeing the grid-based games Hurkle, Snark and Mugwump at {People's Computing Company} (PCC). He later delivered Wumpus to PCC who published it in their newsletter. ESR says he saw a version including termites running on the {Dartmouth Time-Sharing System} in 1972-3. Magnus Olsson, in his 1992-07-07 {USENET} article "9207071854.AA21847@thep.lu.se", posted the {BASIC} {source code} of what he believed was pretty much the version that was published in 1973 in David Ahl's "101 Basic Computer Games", by {Digital Equipment Corporation}. The wumpus lived somewhere in a cave with the topology of an dodecahedron's edge/vertex graph (later versions supported other topologies, including an icosahedron and M"obius strip). The player started somewhere at random in the cave with five "crooked arrows"; these could be shot through up to three connected rooms, and would kill the wumpus on a hit (later versions introduced the wounded wumpus, which got very angry). Unfortunately for players, the movement necessary to map the maze was made hazardous not merely by the wumpus (which would eat you if you stepped on him) but also by bottomless pits and colonies of super bats that would pick you up and drop you at a random location (later versions added "anaerobic termites" that ate arrows, bat migrations and earthquakes that randomly changed pit locations). This game appears to have been the first to use a non-random graph-structured map (as opposed to a rectangular grid like the even older Star Trek games). In this respect, as in the dungeon-like setting and its terse, amusing messages, it prefigured {ADVENT} and {Zork} and was directly ancestral to both (Zork acknowledged this heritage by including a super-bat colony). There have been many {ports} including one distributed with {SunOS}, a {freeware} one for the {Macintosh} and a {C} emulation by {ESR}. [Does "101 Basic Computer Games" give any history?] (2004-10-04)
hunt ::: v. t. --> To search for or follow after, as game or wild animals; to chase; to pursue for the purpose of catching or killing; to follow with dogs or guns for sport or exercise; as, to hunt a deer.
To search diligently after; to seek; to pursue; to follow; -- often with out or up; as, to hunt up the facts; to hunt out evidence.
To drive; to chase; -- with down, from, away, etc.; as, to hunt down a criminal; he was hunted from the parish.
hurling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Hurl ::: n. --> The act of throwing with force.
A kind of game at ball, formerly played.
hypogeum ::: n. --> The subterraneous portion of a building, as in amphitheaters, for the service of the games; also, subterranean galleries, as the catacombs.
IBM 1620 "computer" A computer built by {IBM} and released in late 1959. The 1620 cost from around $85,000(?) up to hundreds of thousands of dollars(?) according to the configuration. It was billed as a "small scientific computer" to distinguish it from the business-oriented {IBM 1401}. It was regarded as inexpensive, and many schools started out with one. It was either developed for the US Navy to teach computing, or as a replacement for the very successful {IBM 650} which did quite well in the low end scientific market. Rumour has it that the Navy called this computer the CADET - Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try. The {ALU} used lookup tables to add, subtract and multiply but it could do address increments and the like without the tables. You could change the number base by adjusting the tables, which were input during the boot sequence from {Hollerith} cards. The divide instruction required additional hardware, as did {floating point} operations. The basic machine had 20,000 decimal digits of {ferrite core memory} arranged as a 100 by 100 array of 12-bit locations, each holding two digits. Each digit was stored as four numeric bits, one flag bit and one parity bit. The numeric bits stored a decimal digit (values above nine were illegal). Memory was logically divided into fields. On the high-order digit of a field the flag bit indicated the end of the field. On the low-order digit it indicated a negative number. A flag bit on the low order of the address indicated {indirect addressing} if you had that option installed. A few "illegal" bit combinations were used to store things like record marks and "numeric blanks". On a {subroutine} call it stored the {return address} in the five digits just before the entry point to the routine, so you had to build your own {stack} to do {recursion}. The enclosure was grey, and the core was about four or five inches across. The core memory was kept cool inside a temperature-controlled box. The machine took a few minutes to warm up after power on before you could use it. If it got too hot there was a thermal cut-out switch that would shut it down. Memory could be expanded up to 100,000 digits in a second cabinet. The cheapest package used {paper tape} for I/O. You could also get {punched cards} and later models could be hooked up to a 1311 {disk drive} (a two-{megabyte} {washing machine}), a 1627 {plotter}, and a 1443 {line printer}. Because the 1620 was popular with colleges, IBM ran a clearing house of software for a nominal cost such as {Snobol}, {COBOL}, chess games, etc. The model II, released about three years later, could add and subtract without tables. The {clock period} decreased from 20 to 10 microseconds, instruction fetch sped up by a few cycles and it added {index registers} of some sort. Some of the model I's options were standard on the model II, like {indirect addressing} and the {console} {teletype} changed from a model C to a {Selectric}. Later still, IBM marketed the {IBM 1710}. A favorite use was to tune a FM radio to pick up the "interference" from the lights on the console. With the right delay loops you could generate musical notes. Hackers wrote {interpreters} that played music from notation like "C44". {IBM 1620 console (img:/pub/misc/IBM1620-console.jpg)} 1620 consoles were used as props to represent {Colossus} in the film "The Forbin Project", though most of the machines had been scrapped by the time the film was made. {A fully configured 1620 (http://uranus.ee.auth.gr/TMTh/exhibit.htm)}. {IBM 1620 at Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA (/pub/misc/IBM1620-Tuck1960s.jpg)} (Thanks Victor E. McGee, pictured). ["Basic Programming Concepts and the IBM 1620 Computer", Leeson and Dimitry, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962]. (2018-09-11)
id Software "games" Creators and publishers of the {DOOM} game for {IBM PCs}. E-mail: "help@idsoftware.com". Telephone: +1 800-ID-GAMES (Orders only).
iliofemoral ::: a. --> Pertaining to the ilium and femur; as, iliofemoral ligaments.
in-and-in ::: n. --> An old game played with four dice. In signified a doublet, or two dice alike; in-and-in, either two doubles, or the four dice alike.
Inglish "games" An English-like language used for {Adventure} games like "The Hobbit". Inglish could distinguish between "take the rope and axe" and "take the money and run". (1995-06-27)
inguinal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to, or in the region of, the inguen or groin; as, an inguinal canal or ligament; inguinal hernia.
initgame "games" /in-it'gaym/ [IRC] An {IRC} version of the venerable trivia game "20 questions", in which one user changes his {nick} to the initials of a famous person or other named entity, and the others on the channel ask yes or no questions, with the one to guess the person getting to be "it" next. As a courtesy, the one picking the initials starts by providing a 4-letter hint of the form sex, nationality, life-status, reality-status. For example, MAAR means "Male, American, Alive, Real" (as opposed to "fictional"). Initgame can be surprisingly addictive. See also {hing}. [{Jargon File}]
interarticular ::: a. --> Situated between joints or articulations; as, interarticular cartilages and ligaments.
intercarpal ::: a. --> Between the carpal bone; as, intercarpal articulations, ligaments.
intercollegiate ::: a. --> Existing or carried on between colleges or universities; as, intercollegiate relations, rivalry, games, etc.
intercolumnar ::: a. --> Between columns or pillars; as, the intercolumnar fibers of Poupart&
interhyal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to a segment sometimes present at the proximal end of the hyoidean arch. ::: n. --> An interhyal ligament or cartilage.
International Core War Society "games, standard, body" (ICWS) The official standards body for {Core War}. (1996-02-16)
Internet Chess Server "networking, games" An interactive meeting-place on the {Internet} where people can play {chess} against each other. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:alt.chess.ics}. [Server address?] (1995-03-25)
Internet Go Server "games, networking" (IGS) A place for {Go} players to meet and play via the {Internet}. {IGS Home (http://pandanet.co.jp/English/)}. (1995-03-17)
interosseous ::: a. --> Situated between bones; as, an interosseous ligament.
intersesamoid ::: a. --> Between sesamoid bones; as, intersesamoid ligaments.
IrDA Control "standard" (IrDA-C, formerly IrBUS) {Infrared} standard from {IrDA}. IrDA Control is a low speed communication standard that allows cordless peripherals such as keyboards, mice, {game pads}, and {joysticks} to interact with intelligent host devices. Host devices include {PCs}, home appliances, game machines, and television and web {set-top boxes}. IrDA Control supports data rates of 75 Kbps at up to 8 metres, and is designed to integrate with devices that use {USB} {HID}. Parts and products featuring IrDA Control are expected in 1998. See also {IrDA Data}, {AIR}. (1999-10-14)
ischiocapsular ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the ischium and the capsule of the hip joint; as, the ischiocapsular ligament.
I see no X here. "games" Hackers (and the interactive computer games they write) traditionally favour this slightly marked usage over other possible equivalents such as "There's no X here!" or "X is missing." or "Where's the X?". This goes back to the original PDP-10 {ADVENT}, which would respond in this wise if you asked it to do something involving an object not present at your location in the game. [{Jargon File}]
isvara (lilamaya ishwara) ::: the Lord of the cosmic lila, "the mighty Lord of Nature, who . . . enjoys with his universal delight this play of her figures of his own being"; the isvara as "our Playmate in the great world-game who has disguised himself throughout as friend and enemy, helper and opponent and, in all relations and in all workings that affect us, has led our steps towards our perfection and our release". lil lilamaya amaya isvaradarsana isvaradarsana (lilamaya ishwaradarshan; lilamaya ishwara
jackal ::: n. --> Any one of several species of carnivorous animals inhabiting Africa and Asia, related to the dog and wolf. They are cowardly, nocturnal, and gregarious. They feed largely on carrion, and are noted for their piercing and dismal howling.
One who does mean work for another&
jackstone ::: n. --> One of the pebbles or pieces used in the game of jackstones.
A game played with five small stones or pieces of metal. See 6th Chuck.
jackstraw ::: n. --> An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man without property or influence.
One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood, etc., for playing a child&
javelin ::: n. --> A sort of light spear, to be thrown or cast by thew hand; anciently, a weapon of war used by horsemen and foot soldiers; now used chiefly in hunting the wild boar and other fierce game. ::: v. t. --> To pierce with a javelin.
Jenga Code "humour, programming" A style of programming which results in the whole thing collapsing when you touch a single block of code. Named after the game where players try to remove wooden blocks from a tower without it falling down. Also known as Crispy Noodle Code. [{Dodgy Coder (http://www.dodgycoder.net/2011/11/yoda-conditions-pokemon-exception.html)}]. [Why crispy noodle?] (2013-12-25)
Jhumur: “The spirit that has taken birth sometimes does not reach the goal. There is a kind of a witness consciousness that puts a cross against it and you go back to the beginning all over again. It’s like the game snakes and ladders that we used to play as children. You have to go back to the first square and start all over again. You almost reach the goal and then you fall back and have to start all over again.”
John von Neumann "person" /jon von noy'mahn/ Born 1903-12-28, died 1957-02-08. A Hungarian-born mathematician who did pioneering work in quantum physics, game theory, and {computer science}. He contributed to the USA's Manhattan Project that built the first atomic bomb. von Neumann was invited to Princeton University in 1930, and was a mathematics professor at the {Institute for Advanced Studies} from its formation in 1933 until his death. From 1936 to 1938 {Alan Turing} was a visitor at the Institute and completed a Ph.D. dissertation under von Neumann's supervision. This visit occurred shortly after Turing's publication of his 1934 paper "On Computable Numbers with an Application to the Entscheidungs-problem" which involved the concepts of logical design and the universal machine. von Neumann must have known of Turing's ideas but it is not clear whether he applied them to the design of the IAS Machine ten years later. While serving on the BRL Scientific Advisory Committee, von Neumann joined the developers of {ENIAC} and made some critical contributions. In 1947, while working on the design for the successor machine, {EDVAC}, von Neumann realized that ENIAC's lack of a centralized control unit could be overcome to obtain a rudimentary stored program computer. He also proposed the {fetch-execute cycle}. His ideas led to what is now often called the {von Neumann architecture}. {(http://sis.pitt.edu/~mbsclass/is2000/hall_of_fame/vonneuma.htm)}. {(http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/VonNeumann.html)}. {(http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/comphist/54nord/)}. (2004-01-14)
joystick "hardware, games" A device consisting of a hand held stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two dimensions to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. Most I/O interface cards for {IBM PCs} have a joystick (game control) port. (1995-03-08)
kautuka-krid.a ::: amusing game.
kayles ::: n. pl. --> A game; ninepins.
keno ::: n. --> A gambling game, a variety of the game of lotto, played with balls or knobs, numbered, and cards also numbered.
kriegsspiel ::: n. --> A game of war, played for practice, on maps.
lacrosse ::: n. --> A game of ball, originating among the North American Indians, now the popular field sport of Canada, and played also in England and the United States. Each player carries a long-handled racket, called a "crosse". The ball is not handled but caught with the crosse and carried on it, or tossed from it, the object being to carry it or throw it through one of the goals placed at opposite ends of the field.
LambdaMOO "games" The most frequently used {server} {software} for running a {MOO} and also the nerve-center (of sorts) of the MOO community. {(ftp://ftp.lambda.moo.mud.org/pub/MOO/)}. {Telnet (telnet://lambda.moo.mud.org:8888)}. (1999-05-25)
langteraloo ::: n. --> An old game at cards. See Loo (a).
lansquenet ::: n. --> A German foot soldier in foreign service in the 15th and 16th centuries; a soldier of fortune; -- a term used in France and Western Europe.
A game at cards, vulgarly called lambskinnet.
legal Loosely used to mean "in accordance with all the relevant rules", especially in connection with some set of constraints defined by software. "The older =+ alternate for += is no longer legal syntax in ANSI C." "This parser processes each line of legal input the moment it sees the trailing linefeed." Hackers often model their work as a sort of game played with the environment in which the objective is to maneuver through the thicket of "natural laws" to achieve a desired objective. Their use of "legal" is flavoured as much by this game-playing sense as by the more conventional one having to do with courts and lawyers. Compare {language lawyer}, {legalese}. [{Jargon File}]
ligamental ::: a. --> Alt. of Ligamentous
ligament ::: n. --> Anything that ties or unites one thing or part to another; a bandage; a bond.
A tough band or plate of dense, fibrous, connective tissue or fibrocartilage serving to unite bones or form joints.
A band of connective tissue, or a membranous fold, which supports or retains an organ in place; as, the gastrophrenic ligament, connecting the diaphragm and stomach.
ligamentous ::: a. --> Composing a ligament; of the nature of a ligament; binding; as, a strong ligamentous membrane.
ligaments ::: fig. A unifying or connecting tie or bond.
life 1. "simulation" {Conway's Game of Life}. 2. "jargon" The opposite of {Usenet}/the {Internet}/{video games}/whatever the speaker considers a waste of time. As in "{Get a life!}" 3. "language" Logic of Inheritance, Functions and Equations (LIFE) An {object-oriented}, {functional}, {constraint}-based language by Hassan Ait-Kacy "hak@prl.dec.com" et al of {MCC}, Austin TX, 1987. LIFE integrates ideas from {LOGIN} and {LeFun}. See also {Wild_LIFE}. ["Is There a Meaning to LIFE?", H. Ait-Kacy et al, Intl Conf on Logic Prog, 1991]. (2015-05-04)
lilamaya ::: playful; enjoying the cosmic game; pertaining to the lila; lilamaya (sagun.a brahman) perceived as pouring out the delight of existence ....(ananda) into the play of the world; ("the Lilamaya") short for lilamaya isvara or lilamaya purus.a, the Lord or Soul of bliss who "can play with the manifestation without being imbued with the Ignorance".
lila ::: play, game; the cosmic play.
lila ::: play, game; the world as a game of the Lord or isvara, "a play of lila the divine Being with the conditions of cosmic existence in this world of an inferior Nature"; life (especially in the objective world or field of karma, as distinguished from yoga) "experienced as a play of the divine Delight".
lodge ::: n. --> A shelter in which one may rest; as: (a) A shed; a rude cabin; a hut; as, an Indian&
loggat ::: n. --> A small log or piece of wood.
An old game in England, played by throwing pieces of wood at a stake set in the ground.
logomachy ::: n. --> Contention in words merely, or a contention about words; a war of words.
A game of word making.
loo ::: n. --> An old game played with five, or three, cards dealt to each player from a full pack. When five cards are used the highest card is the knave of clubs or (if so agreed upon) the knave of trumps; -- formerly called lanterloo.
A modification of the game of "all fours" in which the players replenish their hands after each round by drawing each a card from the pack.
lotto ::: n. --> A game of chance, played with cards, on which are inscribed numbers, and any contrivance (as a wheel containing numbered balls) for determining a set of numbers by chance. The player holding a card having on it the set of numbers drawn from the wheel takes the stakes after a certain percentage of them has been deducted for the dealer. A variety of lotto is called keno.
LP MUD "games" A kind of player-programmable multi-user adventure game. [More details?] See {MUD}.
luckless ::: a. --> Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
lurcher ::: n. --> One that lurches or lies in wait; one who watches to pilfer, or to betray or entrap; a poacher.
One of a mongrel breed of dogs said to have been a cross between the sheep dog, greyhound, and spaniel. It hunts game silently, by scent, and is often used by poachers.
A glutton; a gormandizer.
macco ::: n. --> A gambling game in vogue in the eighteenth century.
Mac Playmate "games" An early (~1985) example of a pornographic computer game. Mac Playmate runs on the {Macintosh} and involves trying to stimulate a simulated woman to orgasm by applying various implements to her erogenous zones. (2002-03-08)
maidmarian ::: n. --> The lady of the May games; one of the characters in a morris dance; a May queen. Afterward, a grotesque character personated in sports and buffoonery by a man in woman&
main ::: n. --> A hand or match at dice.
A stake played for at dice.
The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.
A match at cockfighting.
A main-hamper. ::: v.
make-game ::: n. --> An object of ridicule; a butt.
mall ::: n. --> A large heavy wooden beetle; a mallet for driving anything with force; a maul.
A heavy blow.
An old game played with malls or mallets and balls. See Pall-mall.
A place where the game of mall was played. Hence: A public walk; a level shaded walk.
Formerly, among Teutonic nations, a meeting of the notables
manovery ::: n. --> A contrivance or maneuvering to catch game illegally.
marker ::: n. --> One who or that which marks.
One who keeps account of a game played, as of billiards.
A counter used in card playing and other games.
The soldier who forms the pilot of a wheeling column, or marks the direction of an alignment.
An attachment to a sewing machine for marking a line on the fabric by creasing it.
Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG, MMO) Any game that allows dozens, hundreds or even thousands of players to interact with a game via the {Internet}. Typically the game runs on a central {server farm} and players access it via a {personal computer}, {game console} or mobile phone. The most popular genre is the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), of which {World of Warcraft} is probably the most popular example. Note that an MMOG is not necessarily a _massive_ game (though often they are based in large, complex worlds), their distinguishing characteristic is the number of players. (2012-05-30)
Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game {Massively Multiplayer Online Game}
matador ::: n. --> The killer; the man appointed to kill the bull in bullfights.
In the game of quadrille or omber, the three principal trumps, the ace of spades being the first, the ace of clubs the third, and the second being the deuce of a black trump or the seven of a red one.
matrimony ::: n. --> The union of man and woman as husband and wife; the nuptial state; marriage; wedlock.
A kind of game at cards played by several persons.
maw ::: n. --> A gull.
A stomach; the receptacle into which food is taken by swallowing; in birds, the craw; -- now used only of the lower animals, exept humorously or in contempt.
Appetite; inclination.
An old game at cards.
megameter ::: n. --> An instrument for determining longitude by observation of the stars.
A micrometer.
Alt. of Megametre
megametre ::: n. --> In the metric system, one million meters, or one thousand kilometers.
megalesian ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or in honor of, Cybele; as, the Megalesian games at Rome.
megalo- ::: --> Combining forms signifying: (a) Great, extended, powerful; as, megascope, megacosm.
A million times, a million of; as, megameter, a million meters; megafarad, a million farads; megohm, a million ohms.
See Meg-.
minimax "games" An {algorithm} for choosing the next move in a two player game. A player moves so as to maximise the minimum value of his opponent's possible following moves. If it is my turn to move, I give a value to each legal move I might make. If the result of a move is an immediate win for me I give it positive infinity and, if it is an immediate win for you, negative infinity. The value to me of any other move is the minimum of the values resulting from each of your possible replies. The above algorithm will give every move a value of positive or negative infinity since the value of every move will be the value of some final winning or losing move. This can be extended if we can supply a {heuristic} {evaluation function} which gives values to non-final game states without considering all possible following complete sequences. We can then limit the minimax algorithm to look only a certain number of moves ahead. This number is called the "look-ahead" or "ply". See also {alpha/beta pruning}. [Is "maximin" used? Is it significantly different?] (2000-12-07)
Missing definition "introduction" First, this is an (English language) __computing__ dictionary. It includes lots of terms from related fields such as mathematics and electronics, but if you're looking for (or want to submit) words from other subjects or general English words or other languages, try {(http://wikipedia.org/)}, {(http://onelook.com/)}, {(http://yourdictionary.com/)}, {(http://www.dictionarist.com/)} or {(http://reference.allrefer.com/)}. If you've already searched the dictionary for a computing term and it's not here then please __don't tell me__. There are, and always will be, a great many missing terms, no dictionary is ever complete. I use my limited time to process the corrections and definitions people have submitted and to add the {most frequently requested missing terms (missing.html)}. Try one of the sources mentioned above or {(http://techweb.com/encyclopedia/)}, {(http://whatis.techtarget.com/)} or {(http://google.com/)}. See {the Help page (help.html)} for more about missing definitions and bad cross-references. (2014-09-20)! {exclamation mark}!!!Batch "language, humour" A daft way of obfuscating text strings by encoding each character as a different number of {exclamation marks} surrounded by {question marks}, e.g. "d" is encoded as "?!!!!?". The language is named after the {MSDOS} {batch file} in which the first converter was written. {esoteric programming languages} {wiki entry (http://esolangs.org/wiki/!!!Batch)}. (2014-10-25)" {double quote}
miss ::: n. --> A title of courtesy prefixed to the name of a girl or a woman who has not been married. See Mistress, 5.
A young unmarried woman or a girl; as, she is a miss of sixteen.
A kept mistress. See Mistress, 4.
In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player.
The act of missing; failure to hit, reach, find, obtain, etc.
mistigri ::: n. --> A variety of the game of poker in which the joker is used, and called mistigris or mistigri.
monte ::: n. --> A favorite gambling game among Spaniards, played with dice or cards.
moor ::: n. --> One of a mixed race inhabiting Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, chiefly along the coast and in towns.
Any individual of the swarthy races of Africa or Asia which have adopted the Mohammedan religion.
An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath.
A game preserve consisting of moorland.
mora ::: n. --> A game of guessing the number of fingers extended in a quick movement of the hand, -- much played by Italians of the lower classes.
A leguminous tree of Guiana and Trinidad (Dimorphandra excelsa); also, its timber, used in shipbuilding and making furniture.
Delay; esp., culpable delay; postponement.
morris ::: n. --> A Moorish dance, usually performed by a single dancer, who accompanies the dance with castanets.
A dance formerly common in England, often performed in pagenats, processions, and May games. The dancers, grotesquely dressed and ornamented, took the parts of Robin Hood, Maidmarian, and other fictious characters.
An old game played with counters, or men, which are placed angles of a figure drawn on a board or on the ground; also, the board
mort ::: n. --> A great quantity or number.
A woman; a female.
A salmon in its third year.
Death; esp., the death of game in the chase.
A note or series of notes sounded on a horn at the death of game.
The skin of a sheep or lamb that has died of disease.
move ::: v. t. --> To cause to change place or posture in any manner; to set in motion; to carry, convey, draw, or push from one place to another; to impel; to stir; as, the wind moves a vessel; the horse moves a carriage.
To transfer (a piece or man) from one space or position to another, according to the rules of the game; as, to move a king.
To excite to action by the presentation of motives; to rouse by representation, persuasion, or appeal; to influence.
mum-chance ::: n. --> A game of hazard played with cards in silence.
A silent, stupid person. ::: a. --> Silent and idle.
murnival ::: n. --> In the game of gleek, four cards of the same value, as four aces or four kings; hence, four of anything.
nemean ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to Nemea, in Argolis, where the ancient Greeks celebrated games, and Hercules killed a lion.
nineholes ::: n. pl. --> A game in which nine holes are made in the ground, into which a ball is bowled.
ninepins ::: n. pl. --> A game played with nine pins, or pieces of wood, set on end, at which a wooden ball is bowled to knock them down; bowling.
noddy ::: n. --> A simpleton; a fool.
Any tern of the genus Anous, as A. stolidus.
The arctic fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis). Sometimes also applied to other sea birds.
An old game at cards.
A small two-wheeled one-horse vehicle.
An inverted pendulum consisting of a short vertical flat spring which supports a rod having a bob at the top; -- used for
nomad ::: n. --> One of a race or tribe that has no fixed location, but wanders from place to place in search of pasture or game. ::: a. --> Roving; nomadic. html{color:
novum ::: n. --> A game at dice, properly called novem quinque (L., nine five), the two principal throws being nine and five.
olympiad ::: n. --> A period of four years, by which the ancient Greeks reckoned time, being the interval from one celebration of the Olympic games to another, beginning with the victory of Cor/bus in the foot race, which took place in the year 776 b.c.; as, the era of the olympiads.
olympionic ::: n. --> An ode in honor of a victor in the Olympic games.
ombre ::: n. --> A game at cards, borrowed from the Spaniards, and usually played by three persons.
A large Mediterranean food fish (Umbrina cirrhosa): -- called also umbra, and umbrine.
“On the surface of life all appears to be a game of Chance. There is no certainty about any movement; ups and downs, vicissitudes, cataclysms, actions, passions and thoughts crowd in medley and it is impossible to anticipate or regulate them with any definiteness. But a deeper scrutiny reveals a pattern behind all the apparent workings of Chance. What looks like Chance is itself a part of the process; it is called Chance because the particular operation does not take place within the framework of the laws erected by the limited empirical mind; there is really no Chance in the working out of the divine Intention that is this Universe.” Readings in Savitri Vol. III.
open-air ::: a. --> Taking place in the open air; outdoor; as, an open-air game or meeting.
oppressive ::: a. --> Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law.
Using oppression; tyrannical; as, oppressive authority or commands.
Heavy; overpowering; hard to be borne; as, oppressive grief or woe.
outplay ::: v. t. --> To excel or defeat in a game; to play better than; as, to be outplayed in tennis or ball.
pall-mall ::: n. --> A game formerly common in England, in which a wooden ball was driven with a mallet through an elevated hoop or ring of iron. The name was also given to the mallet used, to the place where the game was played, and to the street, in London, still called Pall Mall.
pallone ::: n. --> An Italian game, played with a large leather ball.
parchesi ::: n. --> A game, somewhat resembling backgammon, originating in India.
See Pachisi.
park ::: n. --> A piece of ground inclosed, and stored with beasts of the chase, which a man may have by prescription, or the king&
partridge ::: n. --> Any one of numerous species of small gallinaceous birds of the genus Perdix and several related genera of the family Perdicidae, of the Old World. The partridge is noted as a game bird.
Any one of several species of quail-like birds belonging to Colinus, and allied genera.
The ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus).
paxwax ::: n. --> The strong ligament of the back of the neck in quadrupeds. It connects the back of the skull with dorsal spines of the cervical vertebrae, and helps to support the head. Called also paxywaxy and packwax.
peekaboo ::: n. --> A child&
pentathlon ::: n. --> A fivefold athletic performance peculiar to the great national games of the Greeks, including leaping, foot racing, wrestling, throwing the discus, and throwing the spear.
pergamenous ::: a. --> Alt. of Pergamentaceous
pergamentaceous ::: a. --> Like parchment.
philopena ::: n. --> A present or gift which is made as a forfeit in a social game that is played in various ways; also, the game itself.
pinocle ::: n. --> A game at cards, played with forty-eight cards, being all the cards above the eight spots in two packs.
See Penuchle.
piquet ::: n. --> See Picket.
A game at cards played between two persons, with thirty-two cards, all the deuces, threes, fours, fives, and sixes, being set aside.
playgame ::: n. --> Play of children.
player ::: n. --> One who plays, or amuses himself; one without serious aims; an idler; a trifler.
One who plays any game.
A dramatic actor.
One who plays on an instrument of music.
A gamester; a gambler.
play ::: n. --> To engage in sport or lively recreation; to exercise for the sake of amusement; to frolic; to spot.
To act with levity or thoughtlessness; to trifle; to be careless.
To contend, or take part, in a game; as, to play ball; hence, to gamble; as, he played for heavy stakes.
To perform on an instrument of music; as, to play on a flute.
To act; to behave; to practice deception.
plover ::: n. --> Any one of numerous species of limicoline birds belonging to the family Charadridae, and especially those belonging to the subfamily Charadrinsae. They are prized as game birds.
Any grallatorial bird allied to, or resembling, the true plovers, as the crab plover (Dromas ardeola); the American upland, plover (Bartramia longicauda); and other species of sandpipers.
poacher ::: n. --> One who poaches; one who kills or catches game or fish contrary to law.
The American widgeon.
poach ::: v. & n. --> To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel.
To rob of game; to pocket and convey away by stealth, as game; hence, to plunder. ::: v. i. --> To steal or pocket game, or to carry it away privately,
pointer ::: n. --> One who, or that which, points.
The hand of a timepiece.
One of a breed of dogs trained to stop at scent of game, and with the nose point it out to sportsmen.
The two stars (Merak and Dubhe) in the Great Bear, the line between which points nearly in the direction of the north star.
Diagonal braces sometimes fixed across the hold.
poker ::: n. --> One who pokes.
That which pokes or is used in poking, especially a metal bar or rod used in stirring a fire of coals.
A poking-stick.
The poachard.
A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about 1835 in the Southwestern United States.
Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to
polo ::: n. --> A game of ball of Eastern origin, resembling hockey, with the players on horseback.
A similar game played on the ice, or on a prepared floor, by players wearing skates.
pool ::: n. --> A small and rather deep collection of (usually) fresh water, as one supplied by a spring, or occurring in the course of a stream; a reservoir for water; as, the pools of Solomon.
A small body of standing or stagnant water; a puddle.
The stake played for in certain