worn

adj 1: affected by wear; damaged by long use; "worn threads on the

screw"; "a worn suit"; "the worn pockets on the

jacket" [ant: {unworn}]

2: showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or

suffering; "looking careworn as she bent over her

mending"; "her face was drawn and haggard from

sleeplessness"; "that raddled but still noble face";

"shocked to see the worn look of his handsome young face"-

Charles Dickens [syn: {careworn}, {drawn}, {haggard}, {raddled}]

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)