words

n 1: the words that are spoken; "I listened to his words very

closely"

2: the text of a popular song or musical-comedy number; "his

compositions always started with the lyrics"; "he wrote

both words and music"; "the song uses colloquial language"

[syn: {lyric}, {language}]

3: language that is spoken or written; "he has a gift for

words"; "she put her thoughts into words"

4: an angry dispute; "they had a quarrel"; "they had words"

[syn: {quarrel}, {wrangle}, {row}, {run-in}, {dustup}]

5: words making up the dialogue of a play; "the actor forgot

his lines" [syn: {actor's line}, {speech}]

word

A fundamental unit of storage in a computer. The

size of a word in a particular computer architecture is one of

its chief distinguishing characteristics.

The size of a word is usually the same as the width of the

computer's {data bus} so it is possible to read or write a

word in a single operation. An instruction is usually one or

more words long and a word can be used to hold a whole number

of characters. These days, this nearly always means a whole

number of {bytes} (eight bits), most often 32 or 64 bits. In

the past when six bit {character sets} were used, a word might

be a multiple of six bits, e.g. 24 bits (four characters) in

the {ICL 1900} series.

(1994-11-11)