[puh-rif-er-uh
l] 
| 1. | pertaining to, situated in, or constituting the periphery: peripheral resistance on the outskirts of the battle area. |
| 2. | concerned with relatively minor, irrelevant, or superficial aspects of the subject in question. |
| 3. | Anatomy. near the surface or outside of; external. |
| 4. | Computers. of or pertaining to a peripheral. |
| 5. | Computers. a device or unit that operates separately from the CPU but is connected to it, as a magnetic disk or tape unit or a printer. |
| pe·riph·er·al (pə-rĭf'ər-əl) adj.
An auxiliary device, such as a printer, modem, or storage system, that works in conjunction with a computer. pe·riph'er·al·ly adv. |
Any part that is separate from a computer's CPU, such as a printer, a keyboard, or a monitor.
peripheral pe·riph·er·al (pə-rĭf'ər-əl)
adj.
Related to, located in, or constituting an outer boundary or periphery.
Perceived or perceiving near the outer edges of the retina.
Of or relating to the surface or outer part of a body or organ; external.
Of, relating to, or being part of the peripheral nervous system.
peripheral hardware
(Or "peripheral device", "device") Any part of a computer other than the CPU or working memory, i.e. disks, keyboards, monitors, mice, printers, scanners, tape drives, microphones, speakers, cameras, to list just the less exotic ones.
High speed working memory, such as RAM, ROM or, in the old days, core would not normally be referred to as peripherals. The more modern term "device" is also more general in that it is used for things such as a pseudo-tty, a RAM drive, or a network adaptor.
Some argue that, since the advent of the personal computer, the motherboard, hard disk, keyboard, mouse, and monitor are all parts of the base system, and only use the term "peripheral" for optional additional components.
(2002-09-03)
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