Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state.
  • noun A code of correct conduct.
  • noun The first copy of a treaty or other such document before its ratification.
  • noun A preliminary draft or record of a transaction.
  • noun The plan for a course of medical treatment or for a scientific experiment.
  • noun Computers A standard procedure for regulating data transmission between computers.
  • intransitive verb To form or issue protocols.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The original of any writing.
  • noun In diplomacy, the minutes or rough draft of an instrument or a transaction; hence, the original copy of any despatch, treaty, or other document; a document serving as a preliminary to or opening of any diplomatic transaction; also, a diplomatic document or minute of proceedings signed by friendly powers in order to secure certain diplomatic ends by peaceful means.
  • noun A record or registry; in law, a notary's record of copies of his acts.
  • noun In the parts of the United States acquired from Mexico, the original record of the transfer of land.
  • To form protocols or first drafts; issue protocols.
  • To make a protocol of.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make a protocol of.
  • intransitive verb To make or write protocols, or first draughts; to issue protocols.
  • noun The original copy of any writing, as of a deed, treaty, dispatch, or other instrument.
  • noun The minutes, or rough draught, of an instrument or transaction.
  • noun A preliminary document upon the basis of which negotiations are carried on.
  • noun A convention not formally ratified.
  • noun An agreement of diplomatists indicating the results reached by them at a particular stage of a negotiation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb obsolete, transitive To make a protocol of.
  • verb obsolete, intransitive To make or write protocols, or first drafts; to issue protocols.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun forms of ceremony and etiquette observed by diplomats and heads of state
  • noun (computer science) rules determining the format and transmission of data
  • noun code of correct conduct

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French protocole, from Old French prothocolle, draft of a document, from Medieval Latin prōtocollum, from Late Greek prōtokollon, table of contents, first sheet : Greek prōto-, proto- + Greek kollēma, sheets of a papyrus glued together (from kollān, to glue together, from kolla, glue).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French protocolle, protocole ("document, record"), and its source, Late Latin protocollum ("the first sheet of a volume (on which contents and errata were written)"), from Byzantine Greek πρωτόκολλον ("first sheet glued onto a manuscript"), from πρῶτος ("first") + κόλλα ("glue").

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Examples

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  • "first glue" ???

    πρωτόκολλον 1st glue literally ( see etymology above)

    February 18, 2007