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random

 - 11 dictionary results

ran⋅dom

[ran-duhm]
–adjective
1. proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern: the random selection of numbers.
2. Statistics. of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen.
3. Building Trades.
a. (of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions: random shingles.
b. (of ashlar) laid without continuous courses.
c. constructed or applied without regularity: random bond.
–noun
4. Chiefly British. bank 3 (def. 7b).
–adverb
5. Building Trades. without uniformity: random-sized slates.
6. at random, without definite aim, purpose, method, or adherence to a prior arrangement; in a haphazard way: Contestants were chosen at random from the studio audience.

Origin:
1275–1325; ME raundon, random < OF randon, deriv. of randir to gallop < Gmc


ran⋅dom⋅ly, adverb
ran⋅dom⋅ness, noun


1. haphazard, chance, fortuitous.

bank

3[bangk]
–noun
1. an arrangement of objects in a line or in tiers: a bank of seats; a bank of lights.
2. Music. a row of keys on an organ.
3. a row of elevator cars, as in a hotel or high-rise office building.
4. a bench for rowers in a galley.
5. a row or tier of oars.
6. the group of rowers occupying one bench or rowing one oar.
7. Printing.
a. (formerly) a bench on which sheets are placed as printed.
b. Also called, especially British, random. the sloping work surface at the top of a compositor's workbench.
c. a table or rack on which type material is stored before being made up in forms.
8. Also called deck. Journalism. a part of a headline containing one or more lines of type, esp. a part that appears below the main part.
9. Electricity. a number of similar devices connected to act together: a bank of transformers; a bank of resistors.
–verb (used with object)
10. to arrange in a bank: to bank the seats; to bank the lights.

Origin:
1200–50; ME bank(e) < OF banc bench < Gmc; see bank 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ran·dom   (rān'dəm)   
adj.  
  1. Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective: random movements. See Synonyms at chance.

  2. Mathematics & Statistics Of or relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.

  3. Of or relating to an event in which all outcomes are equally likely, as in the testing of a blood sample for the presence of a substance.


[From at random, by chance, at great speed, from Middle English randon, speed, violence, from Old French, from randir, to run, of Germanic origin.]
ran'dom·ly adv., ran'dom·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
bank

  1. n.
    money; ready cash. (From bankroll.) : I can't go out with you. No bank.
  2. n.
    a toilet. (Where one makes a deposit.) : Man, where's the bank around here?
  3. tv.
    to gang up on and beat someone. (An intransitive version is bank on (so).) : They banked the kid and left him moaning.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

bank  (2)
"earthen incline, edge of a river," c.1200, probably in O.E., from O.N. banki, from P.Gmc. *bangkon "slope," cognate with P.Gmc. *bankiz "shelf."

random 
"having no definite aim or purpose," 1655, from at random (1565), "at great speed" (thus, "carelessly, haphazardly"), alteration of M.E. randon "impetuosity, speed" (c.1305), from O.Fr. randon "rush, disorder, force, impetuosity," from randir "to run fast," from Frankish *rant "a running," from P.Gmc. *randa (cf. O.H.G. rennen "to run," O.E. rinnan "to flow, to run"). In 1980s college student slang, it began to acquire a sense of "inferior, undesirable." Random access in ref. to computer memory is recorded from 1953.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: bank
Pronunciation: 'ba[ng]k
Function: noun
: an organization for the custody, loan, or exchange of money, for the extension of credit, and for facilitating the transmission of funds
branch bank
: a banking facility that is a separate but dependent part of a chartered bank; especially : a facility that performs some banking functions and is separate from a main office
bridge bank
: a national bank that is chartered for a limited time to operate an insolvent bank until it is sold
central bank
: a national bank that establishes monetary and fiscal policy and controls the money supply and interest rate
collecting bank
: a bank other than the payor bank that is handling for collection a negotiable instrument or a promise or order to pay money
commercial bank
: a bank organized chiefly to handle the everyday financial transactions of businesses (as through deposit accounts and commercial loans)
cooperative bank
: an association (as a credit union) owned by and offering banking services for its members; specifically : SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION
depositary bank
: the first bank to take a negotiable instrument or promise or order to pay money unless the instrument, promise, or order is presented for immediate payment over the counter
federal land bank
: a land bank that is under federal charter and regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
Federal Re·serve bank
: one of 12 central banks set up under the Federal Reserve Act to hold reserves for and extend credit to affiliated banks in their respective districts
intermediary bank
: a bank other than the depositary or payor bank to which a negotiable instrument or promise or order to pay is transferred in the course of collection
land bank
1 : a bank that provides financing for land development and farm mortgages esp. by issuing stock —see also FEDERAL LAND BANK in this entry
2 : a trust that holds land for purposes of preservation or conservation
national bank
: a bank operating under federal charter and supervision
nonbank bank
: a financial organization (as a branch of an out-of-state bank) that either accepts demand deposits or makes commercial loans
payor bank
: a bank that is the drawee of a draft
presenting bank
: a bank other than a payor bank that presents a negotiable instrument or promise or order to pay money
sav·ings bank
: a bank organized to hold depositors' funds in interest-bearing accounts and to make long-term investments (as in home mortgage loans)
state bank
: a bank operating under state charter and law —bank·er /'ba[ng]-k&r/ noun
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: bank
Pronunciation: 'ba[ng]k
Function: noun
: a place where something is held available bank>; especially : adepot for the collection and storage of a biological product of human origin for medical use bank> bank> —see BLOOD BANK
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Science Dictionary
random   (rān'dəm)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. Relating to a type of circumstance or event that is described by a probability distribution.

  2. Relating to an event in which all outcomes are equally likely, as in the testing of a blood sample for the presence of a substance.


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

random
1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly."
2. Assorted; undistinguished. "Who was at the conference?" "Just a bunch of random business types."
3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. "He's just a random loser."
4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organised. "The program has a random set of misfeatures." "That's a random name for that function." "Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly."
5. In no particular order, though deterministic. "The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen randomly."
6. Arbitrary. "It generates a random name for the scratch file."
7. Gratuitously wrong, i.e. poorly done and for no good apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in a particularly useless way, or an assembler routine that could easily have been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving four extra registers. What randomness!
8. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in the way.
9. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes, anyone not known to the hacker speaking). "I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions".
10. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also J. Random, some random X.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-12-05)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Idioms & Phrases

random

see at random.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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