socket

sock·et   (sŏk'ĭt)    n.   An opening or a cavity into which an inserted part is designed to fit: a light-bulb socket. Anatomy The concave part of a joint that receives the end of a bone. A hollow or concavity into which a part, such as the eye, fits. tr.v.   sock·et·ed, sock·et·ing, sock·ets To furnish with or insert into a socket. [Middle English soket, from Anglo-Norman, spearhead, diminutive of soc, plowshare, probably of Celtic origin; see sū- in Indo-European roots.]

Main Entry: sock·et
Pronunciation: 'säk-&t
Function: noun
: an opening or hollow that forms a holder for something: as a : any of various hollows in body structures in which some other part normally lodges socket of the eye> socket>; especially : thedepression in a bone with which the rounded head of another bone fits in a ball-and-socket joint b : a cavity terminating an artificial limb into which the bodily stump fits —seeSUCTION SOCKET

socket sock·et (sŏk'ĭt)
n.

1. The concave part of a joint that receives the articular end of a bone.

2. A hollow or concavity into which a part, such as an eye fits.

socket networking
The Berkeley Unix mechansim for creating a virtual connection between processes. Sockets interface Unix's standard I/O with its network communication facilities. They can be of two types, stream (bi-directional) or datagram (fixed length destination-addressed messages). The socket library function socket() creates a communications end-point or socket and returns a file descriptor with which to access that socket. The socket has associated with it a socket address, consisting of a port number and the local host's network address.
Unix manual page: socket(2).
(1995-01-31)