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Audio Help [oh-puhl] Pronunciation Key | 1. | a mineral, an amorphous form of silica, SiO2 with some water of hydration, found in many varieties and colors, including a form that is milky white. |
| 2. | an iridescent variety of this that is used as a gem. |
| 3. | a gem of this. |
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
Opal
To learn more about Opal visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
| o·pal
Audio Help (ō'pəl) Pronunciation Key
n.
[Middle English opalus, from Latin, alteration of Greek opallios, probably from Sanskrit upalaḥ, from variant of upara-, lower, from upa, below; see upo in Indo-European roots.] o'pal·ine' (ō'pə-līn', -lēn') adj. |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
opal
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| opal | |
noun | |
| a translucent mineral consisting of hydrated silica of variable color; some varieties are used as gemstones |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
opal [ˈoupəl] noun
Example: There are three opals in her brooch; (also adjective) an opal necklace
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| Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd. |
| opal
Audio Help (ō'pəl) Pronunciation Key
A usually transparent mineral consisting of hydrous silica. Opal can occur in almost any color, but it is often pinkish white with a milky or pearly appearance. It typically forms within cracks in igneous rocks, in limestones, and in mineral veins. It also occurs in the silica-rich shells of certain marine organisms. Chemical formula: SiO2·nH2O. |
| The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
Opal
1. A DSP language.
["OPAL: A High Level Language and Environment for DSP boards on PC", J.P. Schwartz et al, Proc ICASSP-89, 1989].
2. The language of the object-oriented database GemStone.
["Making Smalltalk a Database System", G. Copeland et al, Proc SIGMOD'84, ACM 1984, pp.316- 325].
3. A simulation language with provision for stochastic variables. An extension of Autostat.
["C-E-I-R OPAL", D. Pilling, Internal Report, C.E.I.R. Ltd. (1963)].
4. A language for compiler testing said to be used internally by DEC.
5. A functional programming language designed at the Technische Universitaet Berlin as a testbed for the development of functional programs. OPAL integrates concepts from Algebraic Specification and Functional Programming, which favour the (formal) development of (large) production-quality software written in a purely functional style.
The core of OPAL is a strongly typed, higher-order, strict applicative language which belongs to the tradition of Hope and ML. The algebraic flavour of OPAL is visible in the syntactical appearance and in the preference of parameterisation to polymorphism.
OPAL supports: information hiding - each language unit is divided into an interface (signature) and an implementation part; selective import; parameterised modules; free constructor views on sorts, which allow pattern-based function definitions despite quite different implementations; full overloading of names; puristic scheme language with no built-in data types (except Booleans and denotations).
OPAL and its predecessor OPAL-0 have been used for some time at the Technische Universitaet Berlin in CS courses and for research into optimising compilers for applicative languages. The OPAL compiler itself is writte entirely in OPAL.
An overview is given in "OPAL: Design And Implementation of an Algebraic Programming Language".
Home.
(ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/local/uebb/papers/DesignImplOpal.ps.gz).
(1995-02-16)
| The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe |
Opal Cliffs, CA (CDP, FIPS 53924) Location: 36.95520 N, 121.97474 W
Population (1990): 5940 (3030 housing units)
Area: 2.0 sq km (land), 3.2 sq km (water)
Opal, SD Zip code(s): 57765
Opal, WY (town, FIPS 57810) Location: 41.76996 N, 110.32082 W
Population (1990): 95 (54 housing units)
Area: 1.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
| U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau |
Opal
Har"le*quin\, n. [F. arlequin,formerly written also harlequin (cf. It, arlecchino), prob. fr. OF. hierlekin, hellequin, goblin, elf, which is prob. of German or Dutch origin; cf. D. hel hell. Cf. Hell, Kin.] A buffoon, dressed in party-colored clothes, who plays tricks, often without speaking, to divert the bystanders or an audience; a merry-andrew; originally, a droll rogue of Italian comedy. --Percy Smith. As dumb harlequin is exhibited in our theaters. --Johnson. Harlequin bat (Zo["o]l.), an Indian bat (Scotophilus ornatus), curiously variegated with white spots. Harlequin beetle (Zo["o]l.), a very large South American beetle (Acrocinus longimanus) having very long legs and antenn[ae]. The elytra are curiously marked with red, black, and gray. Harlequin cabbage bug. (Zo["o]l.) See Calicoback. Harlequin caterpillar. (Zo["o]l.), the larva of an American bombycid moth (Euch[ae]tes egle) which is covered with black, white, yellow, and orange tufts of hair. Harlequin duck (Zo["o]l.), a North American duck (Histrionicus histrionicus). The male is dark ash, curiously streaked with white. Harlequin moth. (Zo["o]l.) See Magpie Moth. Harlequin opal. See Opal. Harlequin snake (Zo["o]l.), a small, poisonous snake (Elaps fulvius), ringed with red and black, found in the Southern United States.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
OPAL
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