Word - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Word :  (noun)
1: a unit of language that native speakers can identify; "words are the blocks from which sentences are made"; "he hardly said ten words all morning"
2: a brief statement; "he didn't say a word about it"
3: new information about specific and timely events; "they awaited news of the outcome" [syn: news, intelligence, tidings]
4: the divine word of God; the second person in the Trinity (incarnate in Jesus) [syn: Son, Word, Logos]
5: a promise; "he gave his word" [syn: parole, word of honor]
6: a secret word or phrase known only to a restricted group; "he forgot the password" [syn: password, watchword, parole, countersign]
7: an exchange of views on some topic; "we had a good discussion"; "we had a word or two about it" [syn: discussion, give-and-take]
8: the sacred writings of the Christian religions; "he went to carry the Word to the heathen" [syn: Bible, Christian Bible, Book, Good Book, Holy Scripture, Holy Writ, Scripture, Word of God, Word]
9: a verbal command for action; "when I give the word, charge!"
10: a word is a string of bits stored in computer memory; "large computers use words up to 64 bits long" (verb)

1: put into words or an expression; "He formulated his concerns to the board of trustees" [syn: give voice, formulate, phrase, articulate]

Based on WordNet 2.0

Word : \Word\, n. [AS. word; akin to OFries. & OS. word, D. woord, G. wort, Icel. or[eth], Sw. & Dan. ord, Goth. wa['u]rd, OPruss. wirds, Lith. vardas a name, L. verbum a word; or perhaps to Gr. "rh`twr an orator. Cf. Verb.] 1. The spoken sign of a conception or an idea; an articulate or vocal sound, or a combination of articulate and vocal sounds, uttered by the human voice, and by custom expressing an idea or ideas; a single component part of human speech or language; a constituent part of a sentence; a term; a vocable. ``A glutton of words.'' --Piers Plowman.

You cram these words into mine ears, against The stomach of my sense. --Shak.

Amongst men who confound their ideas with words, there must be endless disputes. --Locke.

2. Hence, the written or printed character, or combination of characters, expressing such a term; as, the words on a page.

3. pl. Talk; discourse; speech; language.

Why should calamity be full of words? --Shak.

Be thy words severe; Sharp as he merits, but the sword forbear. --Dryden.

4. Account; tidings; message; communication; information; --
used only in the singular.

I pray you . . . bring me word thither How the world goes. --Shak.

5. Signal; order; command; direction.

Give the word through. --Shak.

6. Language considered as implying the faith or authority of the person who utters it; statement; affirmation; declaration; promise.

Obey thy parents; keep thy word justly. --Shak.

I know you brave, and take you at your word. --Dryden.

I desire not the reader should take my word. --Dryden.

7. pl. Verbal contention; dispute.

Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me. --Shak.

8. A brief remark or observation; an expression; a phrase, clause, or short sentence.

All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. --Gal. v. 14.

She said; but at the happy word ``he lives,'' My father stooped, re-fathered, o'er my wound. --Tennyson.

There is only one other point on which I offer a word of remark. --Dickens.

By word of mouth, orally; by actual speaking. --Boyle.

Compound word. See under Compound, a.

Good word, commendation; favorable account. ``And gave the harmless fellow a good word.'' --Pope.

In a word, briefly; to sum up.

In word, in declaration; in profession. ``Let us not love in word, . . . but in deed and in truth.'' --1 John iii. 8.

Nuns of the Word Incarnate (R. C. Ch.), an order of nuns founded in France in 1625, and approved in 1638. The order, which also exists in the United States, was instituted for the purpose of doing honor to the ``Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God.''

The word, or The Word. (Theol.) (a) The gospel message; esp., the Scriptures, as a revelation of God. ``Bold to speak the word without fear.'' --Phil. i. 14. (b) The second person in the Trinity before his manifestation in time by the incarnation; among those who reject a Trinity of persons, some one or all of the divine attributes personified. --John i. 1.

To eat one's words, to retract what has been said.

To have the words for, to speak for; to act as spokesman. [Obs.] ``Our host hadde the wordes for us all.'' --Chaucer.

Word blindness (Physiol.), inability to understand printed or written words or symbols, although the person affected may be able to see quite well, speak fluently, and write correctly. --Landois & Stirling.

Word deafness (Physiol.), inability to understand spoken words, though the person affected may hear them and other sounds, and hence is not deaf.

Word dumbness (Physiol.), inability to express ideas in verbal language, though the power of speech is unimpaired. Word for word, in the exact words; verbatim; literally; exactly; as, to repeat anything word for word.

Word painting, the act of describing an object fully and vividly by words only, so as to present it clearly to the mind, as if in a picture.

Word picture, an accurate and vivid description, which presents an object clearly to the mind, as if in a picture.

Word square, a series of words so arranged that they can be read vertically and horizontally with like results.

Note: H E A R T E M B E R A B U S E R E S I N T R E N T (A word square)

Syn: See Term.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Word : \Word\, v. i. To use words, as in discussion; to argue; to dispute. [R.]

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Word : \Word\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Worded; p. pr. & vb. n. Wording.] 1. To express in words; to phrase.

The apology for the king is the same, but worded with greater deference to that great prince. --Addison.

2. To ply with words; also, to cause to be by the use of a word or words. [Obs.] --Howell.

3. To flatter with words; to cajole. [Obs.] --Shak.

To word it, to bandy words; to dispute. [Obs.] ``To word it with a shrew.'' --L'Estrange.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

WORD, construction. One or more syllables which when united convey an idea a single part of speech. 2. Words are to be understood in a proper or figurative sense, and they are used both ways in law. They are also used in a technical sense. It is a general rule that contracts and wills shall be construed as the parties understood them; every person, however, is presumed to understand the force of the words be uses, and therefore technical words must be taken according to their legal import, even in wills, unless the testator manifests a clear intention to the contrary. 1 Bro. C. C. 33; 3 Bro. C. C. 234; 5 Ves. 401 8 Ves. 306. 3. Every one is required to use words in the sense they are generally understood, for, as speech has been given to man to be a sign of his thoughts, for the purpose of communicating them to others, he is bound in treating with them, to use such words or signs in the sense sanctioned by usage, that is, in the sense in which they themselves understand them, or else he deceives them. Heinnec. Praelect. in Puffendorff, lib. 1, cap. 17, Sec. 2 Heinnec. de Jure Nat. lib. 1, Sec. 197; Wolff, lust. Jur. Nat. Sec. 7981. 4. Formerly, indeed, in cases of slander, the defamatory words received the mildest interpretation of which they were susceptible, and some ludicrous decisions were the consequence. It was gravely decided, that to say of a merchant, "he is a base broken rascal, has broken twice, and I will make him break a third time," that no action could be maintained, because it might be intended that he had a hernia: ne poet dar porter action, car poet estre intend de burstness de belly. Latch, 104. But now they are understood in their usual signification. Comb. 37; Ham. N. P. 282. Vide Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.; Construction; Interpretation.

Based on Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [Bouvier_Law_Dictionary]:

Word : 

Microsoft Word



Based on the Online Dictionary of Computing [Computer_Dictionary]:

Word : 

A fundamental unit of storage in a computer. The size of a word in a particular computer architecture is one of its chief distinguishing characteristics.

The size of a word is usually the same as the width of the computer's data bus so it is possible to read or write a word in a single operation. An instruction is usually one or more words long and a word can be used to hold a whole number of characters. These days, this nearly always means a whole number of bytes (eight bits), most often 32 or 64 bits. In the past when six bit character sets were used, a word might be a multiple of six bits, e.g. 24 bits (four characters) in the ICL 1900 series.

(1994-11-11)



Based on the Online Dictionary of Computing [Computer_Dictionary]:

Example Usage of Word

WinFuture: #Berufungsgericht bestätigt #Verkaufsverbot für #Word http://ouj.de/n52362 --- #Microsoft
ms_may728: @KikiGeezy LMAO! U don't use it, u say fuck, fuckers some other curse Words but not the n Word
dreamgirlCEO: @Kash_izSidiTy I definitely agree. that Word got so played out this year!
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