code - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English code (“system of law”), from Old French code (“system of law”), from Latin cōdex, later form of caudex (“the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.”). Doublet of codex.

Verb etymology 1, verb sense 7 is an ellipsis of code blue (“medical emergency”).

code (countable and uncountable, plural codes)

  1. A short textual designation, often with little relation to the item it represents.
    This flavour of soup has been assigned the code WRT-9.
  2. A body of law, sanctioned by legislation, in which the rules of law to be specifically applied by the courts are set forth in systematic form; a compilation of laws by public authority; a digest.
    • 1872, Francis Wharton, A Treatise on the Conflict of Laws:
      the mild and impartial spirit which pervades the Code compiled under Canute
  3. Any system of principles, rules or regulations relating to one subject.
    The medical code is a system of rules for the regulation of the professional conduct of physicians.
    The naval code is a system of rules for making communications at sea by means of signals.
  4. A set of rules for converting information into another form or representation.
    1. By synecdoche: a codeword, code point, an encoded representation of a character, symbol, or other entity.
      The ASCII code of "A" is 65.
  5. A message represented by rules intended to conceal its meaning.
    • 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:
      [Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.
  6. (cryptography) A cryptographic system using a codebook that converts words or phrases into codewords.
  7. (programming, uncountable) Instructions for a computer, written in a programming language; the input of a translator, an interpreter or a browser, namely: source code, machine code, bytecode.
    Object-oriented C++ code is easier to understand for a human than C code.
    I wrote some code to reformat text documents.
  8. (scientific programming) A program.
  9. (linguistics) A particular lect or language variety.
  10. (medicine) An emergency requiring situation-trained members of the staff.
  11. (informal) A set of unwritten rules that bind a social group.
    girl code

symbol or short designation

body of law

system of principles, rules or regulations

set of rules for converting information

cryptographic system

instructions for a computer

code (third-person singular simple present codes, present participle coding, simple past and past participle coded)

  1. (computing) To write software programs.
    I learned to code on an early home computer in the 1980s.
  2. (transitive) To add codes to (a data set).
    • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎[1], page 5:
      The resulting citation collection was databased and coded for meaning, etymon, and date range (earliest and latest occurrence found).
  3. To categorise by assigning identifiers from a schedule, for example CPT coding for medical insurance purposes.
  4. (cryptography) To encode.
    We should code the messages we send out on Usenet.
  5. (genetics, intransitive) To encode a protein.
  6. (informal, healthcare) To call a hospital emergency code.
    coding in the CT scanner
  7. (informal, healthcare) Of a patient, to suffer a sudden medical emergency (a code blue) such as cardiac arrest.

to write software programs

cryptography: to encode

to encode a protein

to suffer a sudden medical emergency

code (plural codes)

  1. Alternative form of cod.

From Vulgar Latin coda, from Latin cauda. Compare Daco-Romanian coadă.

code f (plural codz, definite articulation coda)

  1. tail

From English code.

code

  1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) code (symbol)
  2. (Hong Kong Cantonese, computing) code
    揼code [Cantonese] ― dap6 kuk1 [Jyutping] ― to write (computer) code

Borrowing from French code, in the senses relating to laws and rules. Senses related to cryptography and coding have been borrowed from English code. Both derive from Old French code, from Latin cōdex.

code m (plural codes, diminutive codetje n)

  1. book or body of laws, code of laws, lawbook
    Synonym: wetboek
  2. system of rules and principles, e.g. of conduct
  3. code (set of symbols)
  4. code (text written in a programming language)

code m (plural codes)

  1. code

From Vulgar Latin cōda, variant of Latin cauda.

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

code f (plural codis)

  1. tail
  2. queue, line

code f

  1. plural of coda

From Old English cudu, cwidu, cweodu, from Proto-West Germanic *kwidu.

code (uncountable)

  1. Any kind of plant gum; a gummy or resinous substance.
  2. Cud; regurgitated food chewed upon by livestock.
    • a. 1382, John Wycliffe, “Osee 7:14”, in Wycliffe's Bible:
      And thei crieden not to me in her herte, but ȝelliden in her beddis. Thei chewiden code on wheete, and wyn, and thei ȝeden awei fro me.
      And they didn't cry to me from their hearts; instead they whined in their beds. They chewed wheat and wine like cud, then they ran away from me.
  3. (rare) A mass or lump; a large pile of something.

From Old French code, from Latin cōdex, caudex.

code (rare)

  1. A coherent and unified body of laws.
  2. The core of someone's last testament.

From Old English codd and Old Norse koddi.

code

  1. alternative form of codde (“seedpod”)

code oblique singular, m (oblique plural codes, nominative singular codes, nominative plural **code)

  1. alternative form of coute

code

  1. tail

Borrowed from English code.

code

  1. (programming) code
    Synonym: mã

code

  1. (computing, programming) to code