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Control

 - 9 dictionary results

con⋅trol

[kuhn-trohl] verb, -trolled, -trol⋅ling, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to exercise restraint or direction over; dominate; command.
2. to hold in check; curb: to control a horse; to control one's emotions.
3. to test or verify (a scientific experiment) by a parallel experiment or other standard of comparison.
4. to eliminate or prevent the flourishing or spread of: to control a forest fire.
5. Obsolete. to check or regulate (transactions), originally by means of a duplicate register.
–noun
6. the act or power of controlling; regulation; domination or command: Who's in control here?
7. the situation of being under the regulation, domination, or command of another: The car is out of control.
8. check or restraint: Her anger is under control.
9. a legal or official means of regulation or restraint: to institute wage and price controls.
10. a standard of comparison in scientific experimentation.
11. a person who acts as a check; controller.
12. a device for regulating and guiding a machine, as a motor or airplane.
13. controls, a coordinated arrangement of such devices.
14. prevention of the flourishing or spread of something undesirable: rodent control.
15. Baseball. the ability of a pitcher to throw the ball into the strike zone consistently: The rookie pitcher has great power but no control.
16. Philately. any device printed on a postage or revenue stamp to authenticate it as a government issue or to identify it for bookkeeping purposes.
17. a spiritual agency believed to assist a medium at a séance.
18. the supervisor to whom an espionage agent reports when in the field.

Origin:
1425–75; late ME co(u)ntrollen (v.) < AF contreroller to keep a duplicate account or roll, deriv. of contrerolle (n.). See counter-, roll


con⋅trol⋅la⋅ble, adjective, noun
con⋅trol⋅la⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, con⋅trol⋅la⋅ble⋅ness, noun
con⋅trol⋅la⋅bly, adverb
con⋅trol⋅less, adjective
con⋅trol⋅ling⋅ly, adverb


1. manage, govern, rule. 2. restrain, bridle, constrain. 6. management, government, reign, rule, mastery. See authority.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Control
con·trol   (kən-trōl')   
tr.v.   con·trolled, con·trol·ling, con·trols
  1. To exercise authoritative or dominating influence over; direct. See Synonyms at conduct.

  2. To adjust to a requirement; regulate: controlled trading on the stock market; controls the flow of water.

  3. To hold in restraint; check: struggled to control my temper.

  4. To reduce or prevent the spread of: control insects; controlled the fire by dousing it with water.

    1. To verify or regulate (a scientific experiment) by conducting a parallel experiment or by comparing with another standard.

    2. To verify (an account, for example) by using a duplicate register for comparison.

n.  
  1. Authority or ability to manage or direct: lost control of the skidding car; the leaders in control of the country.

    1. One that controls; a controlling agent, device, or organization.

    2. An instrument or set of instruments used to operate, regulate, or guide a machine or vehicle. Often used in the plural.

    3. A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of an experiment.

    4. An individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a control experiment.

  2. A restraining device, measure, or limit; a curb: a control on prices; price controls.

    1. A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of an experiment.

    2. An individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a control experiment.

  3. An intelligence agent who supervises or instructs another agent.

  4. A spirit presumed to speak or act through a medium.


[Middle English controllen, from Anglo-Norman contreroller, from Medieval Latin contrārotulāre, to check by duplicate register, from contrārotulus, duplicate register : Latin contrā-, contra- + Latin rotulus, roll, diminutive of rota, wheel; see ret- in Indo-European roots.]
con·trol'la·bil'i·ty n., con·trol'la·ble adj., con·trol'la·bly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

control 
c.1310, "to check, verify, regulate," from Anglo-Norm. contreroller "exert authority," from M.L. contrarotulus "a counter, register," from L. contra- "against" + rotulus, dim. of rota "wheel" (see roll). From a medieval method of checking accounts by a duplicate register. Sense of "dominate, direct" is c.1450.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: con·trol
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: con·trolled; con·trol·ling
1 : to exercise restraining or directing influence over esp. by law
2 : to have power or authority over controls the outcome in this case>
3 : to have controlling interest in —control noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 1con·trol
Pronunciation: k&n-'trOl
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: con·trolled;con·trol·ling
1 : to incorporate suitable controls in controlled experiment>
2 : to reduce the incidence or severity ofespecially to innocuous levels <control an insect population>
controlling outbreaks of cholera>

Main Entry: 2control
Function: noun
1 : an act or instance of controlling something <control of acute intermittent porphyria>
2 : one that is used in controlling something: as a : an experiment in which the subjects are treated as in a parallel experiment except for omission of the procedureor agent under test and which is used as a standard of comparison in judging experimental effects called also control experiment b : one (as an organism, culture, or group) thatis part of a control
Medical Dictionary

control con·trol (kən-trōl')
v. con·trolled, con·trol·ling, con·trols

  1. To verify or regulate a scientific experiment by conducting a parallel experiment or by comparing with another standard.

  2. To hold in restraint; check.

n.
  1. A standard of comparison for checking or verifying the results of an experiment.

  2. An individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a control experiment.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Computing Dictionary

control character
(Or "ctrl", "^") One (or a pair) of modifier keys found on all modern keyboards. If the control key is held down while pressing and releasing certain other keys then a "control character" is generated, e.g. holding control and hitting "A" generates control-A (ASCII code 1). The ASCII code for the control character is generally 64 less than that for the unmodified character.
The control key does not generate any character on its own but most modern keyboards and operating systems allow a program to tell whether each of the individual keys on the keyboard (including modifier keys) is pressed at any time.
Control characters mostly have some kind of "non-printing" effect on the output such as ringing the bell (Control-G) or advancing to the next line (Control-J). Most have alternative names suggesting these functions (Bell, Line Feed, etc.).
See ASCII character table.
(1997-07-10)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Idioms & Phrases

control

see out of control; spin control.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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