[ded-lok] Pronunciation Key | 1. | a state in which progress is impossible, as in a dispute, produced by the counteraction of opposing forces; standstill; stalemate: The union and management reached a deadlock over fringe benefits. |
| 2. | deadbolt. |
| 3. | a maximum-security cell for the solitary confinement of a prisoner. |
| 4. | to bring or come to a deadlock. |
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| dead·lock
(děd'lŏk') Pronunciation Key
n.
tr. & intr.v. dead·locked, dead·lock·ing, dead·locks To bring or come to a deadlock. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
deadlock
| deadlock | |
noun | |
| a situation in which no progress can be made or no advancement is possible; "reached an impasse on the negotiations" |
Main Entry: dead·lock
Pronunciation: 'ded-"läk
Function: noun
: a state of inaction resulting from the opposition of equally powerful uncompromising persons or factions: as a : the state of a jury unable to agree on a verdict —see also ALLEN CHARGE b : IMPASSE c : a state in which corporate directors are unable to perform their functions because of shareholder voting —deadlock verb
deadlock parallel, programming
A situation where two or more processes are unable to proceed because each is waiting for one of the others to do something.
A common example is a program waiting for output from a server while the server is waiting for more input from the controlling program before outputting anything. It is reported that this particular flavour of deadlock is sometimes called a "starvation deadlock", though the term "starvation" is more properly used for situations where a program can never run simply because it never gets high enough priority.
Another common flavour is "constipation", in which each process is trying to send stuff to the other but all buffers are full because nobody is reading anything). See deadly embrace.
Another example, common in database programming, is two processes that are sharing some resource (e.g. read access to a table) but then both decide to wait for exclusive (e.g. write) access.
The term "deadly embrace" is mostly synonymous, though usually used only when exactly two processes are involved. This is the more popular term in Europe, while deadlock predominates in the United States.
Compare: livelock. See also safety property, liveness property.
[The Jargon File]
(2000-07-26)
deadlock
n.1. [techspeak] A situation wherein two or more processes are unable to proceed because each is waiting for one of the others to do something. A common example is a program communicating to a server, which may find itself waiting for output from the server before sending anything more to it, while the server is similarly waiting for more input from the controlling program before outputting anything. (It is reported that this particular flavor of deadlock is sometimes called a `starvation deadlock', though the term `starvation' is more properly used for situations where a program can never run simply because it never gets high enough priority. Another common flavor is `constipation', in which each process is trying to send stuff to the other but all buffers are full because nobody is reading anything.) See deadly embrace.
2. Also used of deadlock-like interactions between humans, as when two people meet in a narrow corridor, and each tries to be polite by moving aside to let the other pass, but they end up swaying from side to side without making any progress because they always move the same way at the same time.
Deadlock
Dead"lock`\, n. 1. A lock which is not self-latching, but requires a key to throw the bolt forward. 2. A counteraction of things, which produces an entire stoppage; a complete obstruction of action. Things are at a deadlock. --London Times. The Board is much more likely to be at a deadlock of two to two. --The Century.
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.