Definitions

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

  • noun A system of signals used to represent letters or numbers in transmitting messages.
  • noun A system of symbols, letters, or words given certain arbitrary meanings, used for transmitting messages requiring secrecy or brevity.
  • noun An access code.
  • noun A special command, such as a sequence of keystrokes, that allows a user to activate a hidden or accidental feature in a computer program or video game.
  • noun A system of symbols and rules used to represent instructions to a computer; a computer program.
  • noun Genetics The genetic code.
  • noun A systematically arranged and comprehensive collection of laws.
  • noun A systematic collection of regulations or rules of procedure or conduct.
  • noun Medicine Code blue.
  • noun Slang A patient whose heart has stopped beating, as in cardiac arrest.
  • intransitive verb To convert (a message, for example) into code.
  • intransitive verb To systematize and arrange (laws and regulations) into a code.
  • intransitive verb To assign a code to (something) for identification or classification.
  • intransitive verb To express or convey (words) in a manner that implies a different meaning.
  • intransitive verb To specify the genetic code for an amino acid or a polypeptide.
  • intransitive verb To specify the genetic code for a trait or characteristic.
  • intransitive verb Computers To write or revise a computer program.
  • intransitive verb Slang To go into cardiac arrest.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To prepare (a message or despatch) for transmission by translating it into the cipher or arbitrarily chosen words of the code previously agreed upon.
  • noun In Roman law, one of several systematic or classified collections of the statutory part of that law, made by various later emperors, as the Codex Hermogenianus, Codex Theodosianus, etc.; especially, a classified collection made by Justinian (see below).
  • noun In modern jurisprudence: A systematic and complete body of statute law intended to supersede all other law within its scope.
  • noun A body of law which is intended to be merely a restatement of the principles of the existing law in a systematic form.
  • noun Hence A digest or compendium; an orderly arrangement or system; a body of rules or facts for the regulation or explication of any subject: as, the military code; the code of honor (see below).
  • noun Specifically A system of signals with the rules which govern their use.
  • noun See code noir, below.

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

  • noun A body of law, sanctioned by legislation, in which the rules of law to be specifically applied by the courts are set forth in systematic form; a compilation of laws by public authority; a digest.
  • noun Any system of rules or regulations relating to one subject.
  • noun a code enacted in France in 1803 and 1804, embodying the law of rights of persons and of property generally.

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

  • noun A short symbol, often with little relation to the item it represents.
  • noun A body of law, sanctioned by legislation, in which the rules of law to be specifically applied by the courts are set forth in systematic form; a compilation of laws by public authority; a digest.
  • noun Any system of principles, rules or regulations relating to one subject; as, the medical code, a system of rules for the regulation of the professional conduct of physicians; the naval code, a system of rules for making communications at sea means of signals.
  • noun A set of rules for converting information into another form or representation.
  • noun cryptography A cryptographic system using a codebook that converts words or phrases into codewords.
  • noun programming, uncountable A programming language (or other computer language), a program, a routine written in it, or, more generally, the input of a translator, an interpretator or a browser, namely: source code, machine code, bytecode.
  • noun uncountable A computer program, or more generally, any defined computing process.
  • verb computing To write software programs.
  • verb To categorise by assigning identifiers from a schedule, for example CPT coding for medical insurance purposes.
  • verb cryptography To encode.
  • verb medicine Of a patient, to suffer a sudden medical emergency such as cardiac arrest.
  • verb genetics, intransitive To encode a protein.

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

  • noun a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy
  • noun a set of rules or principles or laws (especially written ones)
  • verb attach a code to
  • noun (computer science) the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions
  • verb convert ordinary language into code

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin cōdex, book; see codex.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French code ("system of law"), from Latin codex, later form of caudex ("the stock or stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a writing.").

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Examples

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs in Palo Alto, CA | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs in Palo Alto, CA | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs in Palo Alto, CA | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs in Palo Alto, CA | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs | Indeed.com 2010

  • Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX* Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript* Ability to create interfaces that are fast, consistent across browsers, and demonstrate an intimate knowledge of browser quirks and best practices* Extremely detail oriented down to pixel-perfect implementation* Experience crafting efficient, optimized, and speed-minded code* 3+ years of experience building web or desktop applications* B.A./B.S. in Computer Science or a related technical fieldBonus*

    javascript User Interface Jobs | Indeed.com 2010

  • You could certainly imagine an extractive contributor who implements some big new feature and then dumps it on the project with a request to merge (these are often called “code bombs”).

    How open is too open? C. Titus Brown 2022

Comments

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  • Also a form of encryption, not to be confused with a cipher.

    November 29, 2007

  • Short for code blue, a medical emergency that usually means someone's heart, breathing, or both, have stopped. In most hospitals a designated cohort of professionals will respond when code blues are called.

    Used also as an intransitive verb: "Mr Sullivan was doing okay this morning, but coded overnight."

    January 26, 2008

  • This word has too many meanings. The meaning I'm in love with is coding as a method of classification. Mmm, such a cool word.

    July 18, 2008