Cobol

//ˈkoʊbɒl// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    common business-oriented language wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A programming language developed in the late 1950s, especially for business applications.

    "The problem in COBOL is that, while there exists a standard COBOL, ANS (American National Standard) COBOL, no computer manufacturer offers a COBOL compiler that is both full and pure ANS."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of COBOL. alt-of

Example

More examples

"The problem in COBOL is that, while there exists a standard COBOL, ANS (American National Standard) COBOL, no computer manufacturer offers a COBOL compiler that is both full and pure ANS."

Etymology

Acronym of common business-oriented language, perhaps coined by American computer scientist and aerospace engineer Bob Bemer.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.