compute
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: kəm-pyo͞ot'
rhymes: -uːt
ipa: /kəmˈpjuːt/
ipa: /kəmˈpjut/
ipa: /kəmˈpjʉːt/
ipa: /kŏm.pyʈ/
note: most common realisation
ipa: [kɐmˈpjuːʈ]
Forms: form: computes
form: computing
form: computed
form: computed
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Italic *kom
Proto-Italic *kom-
Latin con-
Latin com-
Proto-Italic *putos
Latin putus?
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin putō
Latin computō
Proto-Italic *-āzi
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Latin -ereinflu.
Latin -āre
Latin computārelbor.
French computerbor.
English compute
17th century. Borrowed from French computer, from Latin computō (“calculate, compute”). Doublet of count.
Senses: examples: text: Can anyone here compute the square root of 10201?
text: Effulgence of my Glorie, Son belov’d, / Son in whoſe face inviſible is beheld / Viſibly, what by Deitie I am, / And in whoſe hand what by Decree I doe, / Second Omnipotence, two dayes are paſt, / Two dayes, as we compute the dayes of Heav’n, / Since Michael and his Powers went forth to tame / Theſe diſobedient[…]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 680–687:
text: "When we have ascertained exactly how little will serve we shall be able to compute how long we shall be able to exist."
ref: 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
text: Coxhead (2000) computed that the AWL covered approximately 10% of the academic corpus from which it was derived[.]
ref: 2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 112:
glosses: To reckon, calculate.
examples: text: Does that compute, or do I need to explain further?
text: Then at the last minute Harris was brought aboard as Dr. Zachary Smith, initially an authentic, lip-curling nogoodnik who, it was presently discovered, could be better used for laughs played off Mumy and a sober-sided robot (“You bubbleheaded booby,” sneers Harris. “That does not compute,” returns the robot dryly).
ref: 1966 September 24, TV Guide, Radnor, Pa., page 25, column 1:
text: And you'd feel an utter fool if, when you asked where the biscuit was, a message came out: "Biscuits do not compute. Your wife programmed your diet."
ref: 1967 August 2, The Australian Women's Weekly, Sydney, page 46, column 2:
text: Guitarist Chris Stein is also against defining the music. When he sees a reporter with a notebook backstage after a concert he does robot impersonations saying, 'What is punk rock? What is punk rock? Brurruph, burruph, does not compute.'
ref: 1977 December 15, The Canberra Times, Australia Captial Territory, page 15, column 3:
glosses: To make sense. (commonly used in mimicry of a science fictional robot and spoken in a robotic voice; most frequently in negative constructs)
Derived terms: computability
computable
computed axial tomography
computed tomography
computist
computistic
computor
does not compute
hypercompute
precompute
Related terms: computation
computational
computer
computing
count
miscompute
noncomputing
recompute