down⋅load
[doun-lohd] 
| 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. |
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
| down·load (doun'lōd') tr.v. down·load·ed, down·load·ing, down·loads
|
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
download
vt.1. [techspeak] To transfer data or (esp.) code from a larger `host' system (esp. a mainframe) over a digital comm link to a smaller `client' system, esp. a microcomputer or specialized peripheral. Oppose upload.
2. [jargon] To fetch data (especially large relatively standalone pieces of data like files and images) over the wire from a remote location.
However, note that ground-to-space communications has its own usage rule for this term. Space-to-earth transmission is always `down' and the reverse `up' regardless of the relative size of the computers involved. So far the in-space machines have invariably been smaller; thus the upload/download distinction has been reversed from its usual sense.
Cite This Source
| download (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. |
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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)
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
