Park \Park\ (p[aum]rk), n. [AS. pearroc, or perh. rather fr. F.
parc; both being of the same origin; cf. LL. parcus,
parricus, Ir. & Gael. pairc, W. park, parwg. Cf. Paddock an
inclosure, Parrock.]
1. (Eng. Law) A piece of ground inclosed, and stored with
beasts of the chase, which a man may have by prescription,
or the king's grant. --Mozley & W.
[1913 Webster]
2. A tract of ground kept in its natural state, about or
adjacent to a residence, as for the preservation of game,
for walking, riding, or the like. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
While in the park I sing, the listening deer
Attend my passion, and forget to fear. --Waller.
[1913 Webster]
3. A piece of ground, in or near a city or town, inclosed and
kept for ornament and recreation; as, Hyde Park in London;
Central Park in New York.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Mil.) A space occupied by the animals, wagons, pontoons,
and materials of all kinds, as ammunition, ordnance
stores, hospital stores, provisions, etc., when brought
together; also, the objects themselves; as, a park of
wagons; a park of artillery.
[1913 Webster]
5. A partially inclosed basin in which oysters are grown.
[Written also parc.]
[1913 Webster]
6. Any place where vehicles are assembled according to a
definite arrangement; also, the vehicles.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
7. A position of the gear lever in a vehicle with automatic
transmission, used when the vehicle is stopped, in which
the transmission is in neutral and a brake is engaged.
[PJC]
Park of artillery. See under Artillery.
Park phaeton, a small, low carriage, for use in parks.
industrial parka region located typically in a suburban or
rural area, zoned by law for specific types of business
use (as, retail business, light industry, and sometimes
heavy industry), often having some parklike
characteristics, and having businesses, parking lots, and
sometimes recreation areas and restaurants. The sponsoring
agency may also provide supporting facilities, such as
water towers, office buildings, or for large industrial
parks, an airport.
[PJC]
|
XEROX PARC
Palo Alto Research Center
Palo Alto Research Centre
PARC
/zee'roks park'/ Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research
Center.
For more than a decade, from the early 1970s into the
mid-1980s, PARC yielded an astonishing volume of
ground-breaking hardware and software innovations. The modern
mice, windows, and icons (WIMP) style of software interface
was invented there. So was the laser printer and the
local-area network; Smalltalk; and PARC's series of D
machines anticipated the powerful personal computers of the
1980s by a decade. Sadly, the prophets at PARC were without
honour in their own company, so much so that it became a
standard joke to describe PARC as a place that specialised in
developing brilliant ideas for everyone else.
The stunning shortsightedness and obtusity of XEROX's
top-level suits has been well described in the reference
below.
["Fumbling The Future: How XEROX Invented, Then Ignored, the
First Personal Computer" by Douglas K. Smith and Robert
C. Alexander (William Morrow & Co., 1988, ISBN
0-688-09511-9)].
[Jargon File]
(1995-01-26)
|