download - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: download

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

down·load

Audio Help [doun-lohd] Pronunciation Key

–verb (used with object) Computers.

to transfer (software, data, character sets, etc.) from a distant to a nearby computer, from a larger to a smaller computer, or from a computer to a peripheral device.

[Origin: down¹ + load

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

down·load Audio Help (doun'lōd') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. down·load·ed, down·load·ing, down·loads

To unload: download cargo from a transport aircraft.
Computer Science To transfer (data or programs) from a server or host computer to one's own computer or device.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

download
verb
transfer a file or program from a central computer to a smaller computer or to a computer at a remote location [ant: upload]

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

download Audio Help (doun'lōd') Pronunciation Key
To transfer data or programs from a server or host computer to one's own computer or digital device. Compare upload.

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

download jargon
To transfer data from one computer to another. Downloading usually refers to transfer from a larger "host" system (especially a server or mainframe) to a smaller "client" system, especially a microcomputer or specialised peripheral, and "upload" usually means from small to large.
Others hold that, technically, download means "receive" and upload means "send", irrespective of the size of the systems involved.
Note that in communications between ground and space, space-to-earth transmission is always "down" and the reverse "up", regardless of size. So far the in-space machines have invariably been smaller; thus the upload/download distinction has been reversed from its usual sense.
[The Jargon File]
(2003-11-04)