[toh-kuh
n] 
| 1. | something serving to represent or indicate some fact, event, feeling, etc.; sign: Black is a token of mourning. |
| 2. | a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof: Malnutrition is a token of poverty. |
| 3. | a memento; souvenir; keepsake: The seashell was a token of their trip. |
| 4. | something used to indicate authenticity, authority, etc.; emblem; badge: Judicial robes are a token of office. |
| 5. | Also called token coin. a stamped piece of metal, issued as a limited medium of exchange, as for bus fares, at a nominal value much greater than its commodity value. |
| 6. | anything of only nominal value similarly used, as paper currency. |
| 7. | an item, idea, person, etc., representing a group; a part as representing the whole; sample; indication. |
| 8. | Logic, Linguistics. a particular instance of a word, symbol, expression, sentence, or the like: A printed page might have twenty tokens of the single type-word “and.” Compare type (def. 8). |
| 9. | to be a token of; signify; symbolize. |
| 10. | serving as a token: a token gift; a token male on an all-female staff. |
| 11. | slight; perfunctory; minimal: token resistance. |
| 12. | by the same token,
|
| 13. | in token of, as a sign of; in evidence of: a ring in token of his love. |
| to·ken (tō'kən) n.
To betoken or symbolize; portend. adj.
[Middle English, from Old English tācen; see deik- in Indo-European roots.] |
token
1.
2.
If several programmers are working on a program, one programmer will "have the token" at any time, meaning that only he can change the program whereas others can only read it. If someone else wants to modify it he must first obtain the token.
(1999-02-23)