computer

From compute +‎ -er. Doublet of cantore, counter, and kontor.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpjuːtə/

• Audio (UK)

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• (US) IPA^(key): /kəmˈpjutɚ/, [kəmˈpʰjuɾɚ]

• Audio (US)

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• Hyphenation: com‧put‧er
• Rhymes: -uːtə(ɹ)

computer (plural computers)

1. (now rare, chiefly historical) A person employed to perform computations; one who computes. [from 17th c.]
   • 1613, Richard Brathwait, The Yong Mans Gleanings‎, page 1:

     I haue read the truest computer of Times, and the best Arithmetician that euer breathed, and he reduceth thy dayes into a short number: The daies of Man are threescore and ten.

   • 1674, “To the Guardian-Angel”, in Reflexions upon the Devotions of the Roman Church, London: Richard Royston, page 419:

     By which manner of ſpeaking, this Propheteſs, who is ſo exact a Computer, would have us, I ſuppoſe, to conclude, that it would be a great miſtake to think that the number of Angels was either 9, or 11 for one of Men.

   • 1927, J. B. S. Haldane, Possible Worlds and Other Essays‎, London: Chatto & Windus, page 173:

     Only a few years ago Mr. Powers, an American computer, disproved a hypothesis about prime numbers which had held the field for more than 250 years.

   • 2003, Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, BCA, page 116:

     One Harvard computer, Annie Jump Cannon, used her repetitive acquaintance with the stars to devise a system of stellar classifications so practical that it is still in use today.

   Synonyms: mental calculator, human calculator

   Hyponym: computress

   1. (by restriction, chiefly historical) A male computer, where the female computer is called a computress.
2. A programmable electronic device that performs mathematical calculations and logical operations, especially one that can process, store and retrieve large amounts of data very quickly; now especially, a small one for personal or home use employed for manipulating text or graphics, accessing the Internet, or playing games or media. [from 20th c.]

   Synonyms: processor, (informal) 'puter, (slang) box, machine, calculator; see also Thesaurus:computer

   Hyponyms: desktop, laptop, portable computer, stored-program computer

   I spend around 6 hours a day at the computer.

   As well as saving the photos on my computer, I have them backed up on a USB drive.

   David is a computer expert.

   Janet works at the computer store.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:computer.

• computer on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Borrowed from English computer.

• IPA^(key): [kʰʌmˈpʰj̊uːd̥ɐ]

computer c (singular definite computeren, plural indefinite computere)

1. computer (machine)

• IPA^(key): /kɔmˈpjutər/

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• Hyphenation: com‧pu‧ter
• Rhymes: -utər

Borrowed from English computer.

computer m (plural computers, diminutive computertje n)

1. computer

• → Trió: konpëjutë

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

computer

1. first-person singular present indicative of computeren
2. imperative of computeren

Borrowed from Latin computō, computāre (“to compute, sum up”). See also the doublets compter and conter.

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.py.te/

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• Homophones: computai, computé, computée, computées, computés, computez

computer

1. (archaic, rare) to compute
   • 1802, François-René de Chateaubriand, Génie du christianisme

     Quant aux ères, ici on compte par l'année de la création, là par olympiade, par la fondation de Rome, par la naissance de Jésus-Christ, par l'époque d'Eusèbe, par celle des Séleucides, celle de Nabonassar, celle des martyrs. Les Turcs ont leur hégire, les Persans leur yezdegerdic. On compute encore par les éres julienne, grégorienne, ibérienne et actienne.

     As the eras, here they compute by the year of the creation, there by olympiads, by the foundation of Rome, by the birth of Christ, by the epoch of Eusebius, by that of Seleucids, of Nabonassar, of the Martyrs. The Turks have their hegira, the Persians their yezdegerdie. The Julian, Gregorian, Iberian and Actian eras, are also employed in computation.

• supputer
• compter

• “computer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• compteur

Unadapted borrowing from English computer.

• IPA^(key): /komˈpju.ter/[1]

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• Rhymes: -uter
• Hyphenation: com‧pù‧ter

computer m (invariable)

1. computer (calculating device)

   Synonyms: calcolatore, elaboratore

computer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of computō

Unadapted borrowing from English computer.

computer n (plural computere)

1. computer

   Synonyms: calculator, ordinator

• computa

Borrowed from English computer.

computer m (plural computers)

1. computer

   Synonym: calculater