Core \Core\, n. [OF. cor, coer, cuer, F. c[oe]ur, fr. L. cor
heart. See Heart.]
1. The heart or inner part of a thing, as of a column, wall,
rope, of a boil, etc.; especially, the central part of
fruit, containing the kernels or seeds; as, the core of an
apple or quince.
[1913 Webster]
A fever at the core,
Fatal to him who bears, to all who ever bore.
--Byron.
[1913 Webster]
2. The center or inner part, as of an open space; as, the
core of a square. [Obs.] --Sir W. Raleigh.
[1913 Webster]
3. The most important part of a thing; the essence; as, the
core of a subject; -- also used attributively, as the core
curriculum at a college.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
4. (Founding) The portion of a mold which shapes the interior
of a cylinder, tube, or other hollow casting, or which
makes a hole in or through a casting; a part of the mold,
made separate from and inserted in it, for shaping some
part of the casting, the form of which is not determined
by that of the pattern.
[1913 Webster]
5. A disorder of sheep occasioned by worms in the liver.
[Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Anat.) The bony process which forms the central axis of
the horns in many animals.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Elec.) A mass of iron or other ferrous metal, forming the
central part of an electromagnet, such as those upon which
the conductor of an armature, a transformer, or an
induction coil is wound.
Note: The presence of the iron intensifies the magnetic field
created by a a current passing through the windings.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
8. (mining) a sample of earth or rock extracted from
underground by a drilling device in such a manner that the
layers of rock are preserved in the same order as they
exist underground; as, to drill a core; to extract a core.
The sample is typically removed with a rotating drill bit
having a hollow center, and is thus shaped like a
cylinder.
[PJC]
9. (Computers) The main working memory of a digital computer
system, which typically retains the program code being
executed as well as the data structures that are
manipulated by the program. Contrasted to ROM and data
storage device.
Note: The term was applied originally to the main memory,
consisting of small ferromagnetic rings, that were used
to store data in older computers, where each ring
representing one bit of information by virtue of its
state of magnetization. They were superseded by
electronic data storage devices.
Syn: core memory, random access memory, RAM
[PJC]
10. (Geol.) the central part of the earth, believed to be a
sphere with a radius of about 2100 miles, and composed
primarily of molten iron with some nickel. It is
distinguished from the crust and mantle.
[PJC]
11. (Engineering) the central part of a nuclear reactor,
containing the fissionable fuel.
[PJC]
Core box (Founding), a box or mold, usually divisible, in
which cores are molded.
Core print (Founding), a projecting piece on a pattern
which forms, in the mold, an impression for holding in
place or steadying a core.
Core dump See core dump in the vocabulary.
[1913 Webster]
|
core dump \core" dump`\ (k[^o]r"d[u^]mp`), n.
1. (Computers) An complete and exact copy of the contents of
a computer core[9], usually produced as a file when some
serious error occurs in the execution of a computer
program, and used for debugging the program which produced
the error.
[PJC]
2. Hence: A full account of a person's knowledge on some
specific topic, usually produced in response to a question
of some kind. It is a mildly deprecatory term, suggesting
that the person producing the account was unable to
prepare a more concise and understandable summary of the
information; as, I just need the essentials, not a core
dump.
[PJC]
|
core dump
n.
[common Iron Age jargon, preserved by Unix]
1. [techspeak] A copy of the contents of core, produced when a process is
aborted by certain kinds of internal error.
2. By extension, used for humans passing out, vomiting, or registering
extreme shock. ?He dumped core. All over the floor. What a mess.? ?He heard
about X and dumped core.?
3. Occasionally used for a human rambling on pointlessly at great length;
esp. in apology: ?Sorry, I dumped core on you?.
4. A recapitulation of knowledge (compare bits, sense 1). Hence, spewing
all one knows about a topic (syn. brain dump), esp. in a lecture or
answer to an exam question. ?Short, concise answers are better than core
dumps? (from the instructions to an exam at Columbia). See core.
[76-07-18]
A core dump lands our hero in hot water.
|