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Code

//kəʊd// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    A short textual designation, often with little relation to the item it represents. countable, uncountable

    "This flavour of soup has been assigned the code WRT-9."

  2. 2
    Alternative form of cod. alt-of, alternative
  3. 3
    a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy wordnet
  4. 4
    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. countable, uncountable

    "the mild and impartial spirit which pervades the Code compiled under Canute"

  5. 5
    (computer science) the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions wordnet
Show 12 more definitions
  1. 6
    Any system of principles, rules or regulations relating to one subject. countable, uncountable

    "The medical code is a system of rules for the regulation of the professional conduct of physicians."

  2. 7
    a set of rules or principles or laws (especially written ones) wordnet
  3. 8
    A set of rules for converting information into another form or representation. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    a series of letters, numbers or symbols assigned to something for the purpose of classification or identification wordnet
  5. 10
    A set of rules for converting information into another form or representation.; By synecdoche: a codeword, code point, an encoded representation of a character, symbol, or other entity. countable, uncountable

    "The ASCII code of "A" is 65."

  6. 11
    A message represented by rules intended to conceal its meaning. countable, uncountable

    "[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."

  7. 12
    A cryptographic system using a codebook that converts words or phrases into codewords. countable, uncountable
  8. 13
    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. uncountable

    "Object-oriented C++ code is easier to understand for a human than C code."

  9. 14
    A program. countable, uncountable
  10. 15
    A particular lect or language variety. countable, uncountable
  11. 16
    An emergency requiring situation-trained members of the staff. countable, uncountable
  12. 17
    A set of unwritten rules that bind a social group. countable, informal, uncountable

    "girl code"

Verb
  1. 1
    To write software programs.

    "I learned to code on an early home computer in the 1980s."

  2. 2
    convert ordinary language into code wordnet
  3. 3
    To add codes to (a data set). transitive

    "The resulting citation collection was databased and coded for meaning, etymon, and date range (earliest and latest occurrence found)."

  4. 4
    attach a code to wordnet
  5. 5
    To categorise by assigning identifiers from a schedule, for example CPT coding for medical insurance purposes.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    To encode.

    "We should code the messages we send out on Usenet."

  2. 7
    To encode a protein. intransitive
  3. 8
    To call a hospital emergency code. informal

    "coding in the CT scanner"

  4. 9
    Of a patient, to suffer a sudden medical emergency (a code blue) such as cardiac arrest. informal

Etymology

Etymology 1

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 sense 7 is an ellipsis of code blue (“medical emergency”).

Etymology 2

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 sense 7 is an ellipsis of code blue (“medical emergency”).

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