verb, -cut⋅ed, -cut⋅ing.| 1. | to carry out; accomplish: to execute a plan or order. |
| 2. | to perform or do: to execute a maneuver; to execute a gymnastic feat. |
| 3. | to inflict capital punishment on; put to death according to law. |
| 4. | to murder; assassinate. |
| 5. | to produce in accordance with a plan or design: a painting executed by an unknown artist. |
| 6. | to perform or play (a piece of music). |
| 7. | Law.
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| 8. | Computers. to run (a program or routine) or to carry out (an instruction in a program). |
| 9. | to perform or accomplish something, as an assigned task. |
| 10. | Sports. to perform properly the fundamental moves or mechanics of a sport, game, position, or particular play; show smoothness in necessary skills: We just didn't execute defensively. |
ex·e·cute (ěk'sĭ-kyōōt') tr.v. ex·e·cut·ed, ex·e·cut·ing, ex·e·cutes
[Middle English executen, from Old French executer, from Medieval Latin execūtāre, from Latin execūtor, executor, from execūtus, past participle of exequī, exsequī, to pursue, carry out : ex-, ex- + sequī, to follow; see sekw-1 in Indo-European roots.] ex'e·cut'a·ble adj., ex'e·cut'er n. |
executable operating system
A binary file containing a program in machine language which is ready to be executed (run).
The term might also be, but generally isn't, applied to scripts which are interpreted by a command line interpreter. Executables are distinguished in Unix by having the execute permission bits set, at least for the owner. MS-DOS uses the filename extension ".exe".
(1997-06-21)