console
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɒn.səʊl/
ipa: /ˈkɑn.soʊl/
Forms: form: consoles
Etymology: Borrowed from French console (“bracket”, noun), from consoler (“to console, to comfort”, verb).
Sense of “bracket” either due to a bracket alleviating the load, or due to brackets being decorated with the Christian figure of a consolateur (“consoler”), itself perhaps a pun on the first sense (alleviating load).
Originally used for the bracket itself, then for wall-mounted tables (mounted with a bracket), then for free-standing tables placed against a wall. Use for control system dates at least to 1880s for an “organ console”; use for electrical or electronic control systems dates at least to 1930s in radio, television, and system control, particularly as “mixer console” or “control console”, attached to an equipment rack. This was popularized in computers by mainframes such as the IBM 704 (1954) in terms such as “operator’s console” or “console typewriter”, and then generalized to any attached equipment, particularly for user interaction. The automotive sense harks back to earlier use as “support”.
Senses: examples: text: The film's music blared from the console.
glosses: A stand-alone cabinet designed to stand on the floor; especially, one integrated with home entertainment equipment, such as a TV or stereo system.
glosses: A desk-like cabinet, table, or stand upon which controls, instruments, and displays are mounted.
examples: text: The operating console of the new Glasgow Central cabin is divided into four sections, each at an angle to each other and each of which is normally under one signalman's control; [...]
ref: 1961 March, “The new Glasgow Central signalbox”, in Trains Illustrated, page 177:
glosses: An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
glosses: An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
The keyboard and screen of a computer or other electronic device.
examples: text: Consoles continue to gain traction in the video game market.
text: I rarely play FPS on a PC these days. I'm lazy and it's just so much easier to stick on Halo or Modern Warfare 2 on a console. Plus after a day in front of a PC I don't necessarily want to spend an evening in front of one.
ref: 2010 September 21, Greg Howson, “Are consoles really better than PCs at shooter games?”, in The Guardian:
glosses: An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
Abbreviation of video game console.
examples: text: Could you put my phone in the centre console?
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: A storage tray or container mounted between the seats of an automobile.
topics: architecture
coordinate_terms: corbel
hypernyms: bracket
glosses: An ornamental member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, often S-shaped.
glosses: cantilever
examples: text: On an attractive console with two winged putti as supporters [...] is a marriage coat of arms : Dexter, the Paoli arms : Gules (base), a bend azure charged with five lilies gules, and or (chief); Sinister, the[…]
ref: 1919, Allan Marquand, Robbia Heraldry, page 60:
text: The only authentic reference for the tincture of the shield still in existence is the armorial console in Jacques Coeur's chapel[…]
ref: 1994, James H. Marrow, François Avril, The Hours of Simon de Varie, Getty Publications, →ISBN, page 134:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: A decorative frame or support (in architecture, drawings, etc) around a heraldic shield.
Derived terms: center console
centre console
console converter
console game
consolelike
console radio
console steel guitar
console steel guitarist
console table
consolette
consolitis
consolization
consolized
game console
games console
gaming console
handheld console
home console
microconsole
mixing console
multiconsole
organ console
subconsole
videogame console
video-game console
video games console
Related terms: corbel
terminal