fire code
World English Dictionary
code (kəʊd) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  See also genetic code a system of letters or symbols, and rules for their association by means of which information can be represented or communicated for reasons of secrecy, brevity, etc: binary code; Morse code
2.  a message in code
3.  a symbol used in a code
4.  a conventionalized set of principles, rules, or expectations: a code of behaviour
5.  a system of letters or digits used for identification or selection purposes
 
—vb
6.  to translate, transmit, or arrange into a code
 
[C14: from French, from Latin cōdex book, codex]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

code
c.1300, from O.Fr. code "system of laws," from L. codex, earlier caudex "book, book of laws," lit. "tree trunk," hence, wooden tablet for writing. The sense in "secret code" is 1808. Codify first attested c.1800.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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00:10
Fire code is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
code   (kōd)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. A system of signals used to represent letters or numbers in transmitting messages.

  2. The instructions in a computer program. Instructions written by a programmer in a programming language are often called source code. Instructions that have been converted into machine language that the computer understands are called machine code or executable code. See also programming language.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

code definition


A series of instructions designed to be fed into a computer.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

code

n. The stuff that software writers write, either in source form or after translation by a compiler or assembler. Often used in opposition to "data", which is the stuff that code operates on. This is a mass noun, as in "How much code does it take to do a bubble sort?", or "The code is loaded at the high end of RAM." Anyone referring to software as "the software codes" is probably a newbie or a suit.
Jargon
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American Heritage
Abbreviations & Acronyms
CoDE
coherent digital exciter
CODE
Confederation of Dental Employers
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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