| 释义 |
digital, a. and n.|ˈdɪdʒɪtəl|
[ad. L. digitālis of or belonging to the finger, f. digit-us a finger, digit. Cf. F. digital (1545 in Hatz.-Darm.)]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to a finger, or to the fingers or digits.
1656Blount Glossogr., Digital, pertaining to a finger. 1783Anat. Dial. v. (ed. 2) 285 At the ends of the fingers these digital arteries..unite. 1802–25Syd. Smith Ess. (ed. Beeton) 77 Here are 160 hours employed in the mere digital process of turning over leaves! 1840G. Ellis Anat. 410 The digital nerves of the superficial branch of the ulnar are two. 1874Athenæum 30 May, A lady, with an unparalleled degree of digital dexterity.
2. Resembling a digit or finger or the hollow impression made by one: applied in Anat. to various parts or organs.
digital cavity, the posterior corner of the lateral ventricle of the brain. digital fossa, a pit-like depression on the thigh-bone, where five muscles are inserted: see quot. 1855. digital impressions: see quot. 1883.
1831R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 428 The Digital Cavity or Posterior Horn is entirely lined by medullary substance. 1855Holden Hum. Osteol. (1878) 195 Behind the neck of the femur, and beneath the projecting angle of the trochanter major, is a deep excavation called the digital fossa. 1883Syd. Soc. Lex., Digital impressions, the grooves on the inner surface of the cranial bones which correspond to the convolutions of the brain; so called from their shape.
3. Having digits; hence digital-footed.
1833Sir C. Bell Hand (1834) 98 There are some very rare instances of a horse having digital extremities. 1887S. Ferguson Ogham Inscript. 148 The digital feet unite these..examples with other symbolisms..Here also are found digital-footed equine figures.
4. Of, pertaining to, or using digits [digit n. 3]; spec. applied to a computer which operates on data in the form of digits or similar discrete elements (opp. analogue computer).
1938C. Campbell U.S. Pat. 2,113,612 9/1 The emitter..differs from the other emitters in that it has twelve digital conducting spots. 1945J. Eckert et al. Appl. Math. Panel Rep. 171.2R (title) Description of the ENIAC and comments on electronic digital computing machines. 1946D. R. Hartree in Nature 12 Oct. 500/2 [Computers] of the other class handle numbers directly in digital form... The American usage is ‘analogue’ and ‘digital’ machines. 1947Electronic Engin. XIX. 178 Digital computing apparatus works out problems by methods which are basically the same as those which would be employed if an attempt were made to perform the calculations on paper. 1947Math. Tables & Other Aids to Computation Oct. 359 We are engaged at the RCA Laboratories in the development of a storage tube for the inner memory of electronic digital computers. 1957Technology July 182/2 The digital computer in normal use plays a purely deductive role in that it follows explicit instructions in operating on data that are fed into it. 1958Engineering 28 Mar. 389/2 An in-line display of a digital form, which shows the unknown voltage to four significant figures. 1958IBM Jrnl. Res. & Devel. II. 191/1 Voltage-to-digital conversion is accomplished by connecting a precision potentiometer to the output shaft of a servo-driven converter. 1964Times Rev. Industry Mar. 58/2 A digital clock that presents the hours and minutes in figures. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 189/1 Of the various types of computer which play a useful part in medical practice and research,..the most important..is the electronic digital computer.
5. a. Designating (a) recording in which the original waveform is digitally coded and the information in it represented by the presence or absence of pulses of equal strength, making it less subject to degradation than a conventional analogue signal; of or pertaining to such recording.
1960IRE Trans. Electronic Computers Mar. 11/2 The nature and features of digital recording. 1966IEEE Trans. Magnetics II. 1/1 The performance of thin magnetic tape as a digital storage medium. 1977Rolling Stone 19 May 96/3 The problem with PCM or digital recording in the past has been that the tape medium could not accommodate the millions of pulses per second required when an audio signal is translated into coded pulses. 1978Gramophone June 136/3 It would be a great pity if this opportunity for a ‘quantum leap’ in audio standards were spoilt by the emergence of several conflicting, incompatible digital discs. 1979Financial Rev. (Austral.) 7 Nov. 28/6 Digital discs are on the market already. 1981New Scientist 6 Aug. 355/2 Digital video recording has been demonstrated with modified analogue machines. 1984Sunday Times 14 Oct. 40/2 The performances could hardly be more authentic, with magnificent playing and an ample resonance in this fine digital recording.
b. digital audio tape, (a length of) magnetic tape on which sound is recorded digitally, analogous to digital recording on compact discs; abbrev. DAT n.
1981Business Week 14 Dec. 122d/1 No less than five totally incompatible prototypes of digital-audio tape decks have been unveiled this fall by as many Japanese companies. 1984Electronics Week 15 Oct. 13/2 Digital audio tape..probably won't appear as a commercial product before the spring of 1986. 1986Electronics 20 Jan. 20 Onkyo's Birch-Jones does not think that digital audio tape products will have a negative impact on Compact Disc sales. 1986Observer 4 May 25/2 The DAT (digital audio-tape) cassette will record or play-back prerecorded tapes about two-thirds the size of the familiar compact cassette. Maximum playing time will be about two hours, with quality roughly equivalent to compact disc.
B. n.
†1. = digit n. 3. Obs.
c1430Art Nombrynge (E.E.T.S.) 1 Another digitalle is a nombre with-in 10.
2. A finger (humorous).
1840Fraser's Mag. XXI. 160 To fling his broad plebeian paws and right cannie digitals around Sir Robert Peel. 1840Ibid. XXII. 397 Hundreds of thousands vanish at the touch of royal digitals. 1858Lytton What will he do iv. ix, Who wear..paste rings upon unwashed digitals.
3. A key played with the finger in a musical instrument, as a piano or organ.
1878W. H. Stone Sci. Basis Music v. 62 Colin Brown's Natural Fingerboard..The digitals consist of three separate sets..The first, second, fourth, and fifth tones of the scale are played by the white digitals.
Add:[A.] [5.] c. digital compression (more fully digital signal compression), the compression of digitized audio or video signals so as to increase the amount of information that can be transmitted over a given route in a given time. Cf. *compression n. 1 f.
1984Aviation Week 24 Sept. 79/2 Driving such traffic volume through the available 500 MHz. of bandwidth each for broadcast and other more common transmission types such as telephony or data will be possible using digital signal compression, higher frequency bands, monolithic microwave integrated circuits and spacecraft technology. 1989Computerworld 17 July 73/5 By the end of the '90s, digital signal compression will offer a great enough advantage, and cable and satellite transmission will be affordable enough that it will become cost-effective to transmit and locally decompress. 1990What Satellite July 41/2 They're looking at the possibilities of getting a number of channels out of one transponder, by digital compression and splitting frequencies. 1993Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 10 Jan. f5/1 Digital compression, the technology that makes the brave new world of television possible, increases the available number of channels by squeezing more information through the same conduit.
d. digital compact cassette, a format for tape cassettes similar to ordinary audio cassettes but with digital rather than analogue recording; a cassette in this format, abbrev. DCC.
1985Chicago Tribune 6 Jan. xiii. 26/3 This state-of-the-art PCM/VCR combination may be supplanted in a year's time by digital compact cassettes. 1990Dallas Times Herald 9 Oct. b1/5 Tandy is one of several companies teaming with Philips Consumer Electronics of Knoxvill, Tenn., to produce a ‘Digital Compact Cassette’ system that could play both specially designed digital tapes and standard cassette tapes. 1992Economist 30 May 97/1 Sony is out to position the Mini Disc as a direct rival to the tape-based Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) recently announced by Matsushita and Philips.
▸ Relating to or operating with signals or information represented by discrete numeric values of a physical quantity such as voltage or magnetic polarization (commonly representing the digits 0 and 1); designating a signal or information of this kind. Opposed to analogue.
1952Proc. IRE 40 475 (heading) A coincident-current magnetic memory cell for the storage of digital information. 1959Times 13 Oct. 11/7 Data are stored in an electronic ‘memory’ or ‘information bank’, using digital techniques. 1964Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115569 The resulting digital data, when stored on low-density (200 characters per inch) digital tape, would fill 84 digital tapes. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. 24 255/1 In the digital averager we have designed and built, only 1,024 bits are available for each of four channels. 1976IEEE Trans. Information Theory 22 649/2 Any digital signal can be copied precisely. 1984Aviation Week 24 Sept. 79/2 Driving such traffic volume through the available 500 MHz. of bandwidth..will be possible using digital signal compression. 2000N.Y. Times Mag. 11 June 64/2 William Gibson..created heroes who were ‘jacked in’, able to send and receive digital signals by wiring their own brains directly to hard drives.
▸ Of a timepiece: showing information by means of displayed digits, rather than hands or pointers on a dial-plate.
1958Science 10 Jan. 98 (advt.) Digital clock covers a 24-hour period and furnishes digital contacts for read-out into printers. 1962E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 60 Digital indication, time indication by figures instead of hands. 1976Sci. Amer. Jan. 130/3 There are even correcting thumbwheels for feeding in ambient air conditions in order to get standardized results on the digital display; they affect only the fourth digit and beyond. 1980J. Wainwright Dominoes ii. 53 The receptionist turned her wrist, consulted her expensive digital watch, then answered her own question. 1996Chef's Catal. Spring 56/2 Features programmable digital timer and drip interrupt.
▸ Relating to or involving the capture, storage, or manipulation of images by digital means; (of an image) stored or represented digitally; (of a device) capturing or generating such images. Also Film: utilizing this technology in film or television production.
1965Science 15 Jan. 279/2 [It] will consist of two seminars: ‘Image Processing’ will discuss image evaluation, encoding.., optical, electro-optical and digital image processing techniques..and image processing for pattern recognition. 1969Science 3 Oct. 54/1 The limb appears in..a few real-time digital A-camera frames. 1974Internat. Jrnl. Syst. Sci. 5 219 A one-dimensional state variable filter is extended to two dimensions..and is applied to perform image enhancement of digital photographs. 1976Proc. Soc. Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers 78 152 The sensor is part of a digital camera system which includes the low level video conditioning electronics, a camera controller, a high speed buffer memory, and digital recording and display electronics. 1985Financial Times (Nexis) 1 May iv. 8 Its new..system..for the production of digital photographs..allows anything (but usually drawings) to be photographed, reproduced digitally on the screen, and there edited or incorporated in textual documents. 1991Artforum Feb. 99/1 The evidential veracity of documentary photography itself is disappearing into the pixels of digital imaging. 1995Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 31 Oct. 12 Those of us who..held our breath while the raptor hunted the kids through Jurassic Park can thank Silicon Graphics for some of the most amazing digital animations ever seen in a movie. 1996Guardian 14 Dec. 6/3 Digital photography, which has already killed off ‘wet’ printing crafts and done away with any need for paper prints and negatives, is the photographic movement of the future. 1999Daily Tel. 28 Jan. (Connected section) 3/3 (caption) D.Film is an online independent film festival featuring wholly digital films shot and edited on DV camcorders and everyday PCs.
▸ a. Of musical equipment or instruments (esp. a keyboard or synthesizer): employing digital technology (by means of a built-in microprocessor); generating sound by means of a digital (rather than analogue) signal.
1970Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 875240/1 A digital electronic organ wherein a digital representation of an organ pipe waveshape is stored in a memory. 1971Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 891272 (heading) Digital music synthesizer. 1979Computer Music Jrnl. 3 ii. 64 A sixteen-bit mini-computer is the heart of the Synclavier—the world's first and only commercially available digital synthesizer. 1989Forte Spring 6/1 The fact that Roland calls the KR–33 a ‘Digital Keyboard’, and not digital piano, synth, nor home keyboard, gives you an idea of the instrument's crossover potential. 1991Electronic Musician Nov. 84/2 Like the SQ-1, the SQ-2 has 21-note polyphony, 8-part multitimbral operation, a digital effects processor, and a 16-track sequencer. 1997S. Barrow & P. Dalton Reggae vii. 273/1 Ragga—essentially reggae played entirely (or mostly) with digital instrumentation—has been the most commercially successful Jamaican music since the heyday of Bob Marley.
b. Of sound or music: generated by a digital instrument, esp. a digital synthesizer; having timbral or rhythmic qualities associated with digital synthesis or processing. Also: relating to, involving, or characterized by such sound or music.
1991P. Sweeney Virgin Directory World Music 185 The move to artificially created dancehall peaked in the creation of ‘digital dancehall’, or ‘digi’, in which a voice, a computerised keyboard and a drum machine were the only ingredients. 1992Face Apr. 25/3 Digital beats are accompanied with percussion, chunky bass and, occasionally, some light jazzy guitar. 1995Harper's Mag. Sept. 5/3 The voice is digital, grinning, and prerecorded. 1998G. McKay DiY Culture 297 Simply put, European techno is faster and pushes like rock, while Detroit techno is funky and uses fewer digital textures. 2000S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide II. ii. 446/1 The digital DJ of the eighties was characteristically ragga—ragamuffin in style and attitude.
▸ B. n. a. A digital timepiece, esp. a digital watch. Hence also: any piece of equipment with a digital display.
1975Forbes 15 Feb. 59/1 The Swiss, with 40% of the market and the biggest investment in traditional watchmaking, have been reluctant to switch to digitals. 1982S. Townsend Secret Diary Adrian Mole 155 Woke up with a panic attack to see that it was eight-fifty by my bedside digital! 1989San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 20 Dec. (Food section) 25 Choose from the fancier electronic digitals, the old-fashioned but accurate balance scales, and the less precise but less expensive spring-action models. 1992C. Willis Doomsday Bk. i. i. 4 Montoya glanced impatiently at her digital.
b. A device, piece of equipment, etc., which uses digital technology; (in later use) spec. a digital camera. Usu. in pl.
In quot. 1979 a digital recording.
1979Washington Post 9 Sept. g1 Will the sound..be marginally superior to the hybrid digitals or will it be so decisively better? 1983Telephone Engineer & Managem. (Nexis) 87 68 The subscriber no longer has to put up with large bulky telephone exchanges. The new digitals are also much faster. 1990Music Trades (Nexis) 137103 Acoustic pianos have always been sold on the basis of..presenting the instrument as a priceless family heirloom... By contrast, digitals are sold on slick engineering. 1998N.Y. Mag. 30 Nov. 96/1 A really kick-ass camera—one of those sleek little platinum Konica Q-M100V digitals. 2008Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 25 Oct. t7 Even the smallest digitals now have features to help you improve your outdoor or wildlife photography.
▸ a. Involving or relating to the use of digital or computer technology, esp. the Internet; (of a person) computer-literate, making use of digital or Internet technology. Also to go digital: to start using digital or computer technology.
1984Which Micro? Dec. 83/2 In this digital jungle the traditional swinging vines have been replaced by moving lifts. 1992B. Sterling Hacker Crackdown 300 In a postindustrial, digital world, the idea of regulated monopolies is bad. 1994CD-ROM World Apr. 18/1 Wedding videographers and corporate producers who are just starting to go digital. 1996Economist 17 Feb. (Review section) 12/1 Ruminate about the net, about computers, indeed about anything digital. 2004Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) (Nexis) 12 May 5 Educators must learn to accommodate the expectations and needs of digital students. 2008New Yorker 14 Jan. 33/1 Lawrence Lessig..has long been a student of digital culture.
b. Designating a digitally generated or computer-mediated counterpart of a previously existing object or action.
1991Unix World Jan. 66/1 Think of Photo CD, say Kodak executives, as a ‘digital negative’ that can preserve images for display years into the future. 1994.net Dec. 19/2 Cybercash will enable consumers to instruct their banks to place money in a ‘digital wallet’. 1998Wired Oct. 66/1, I hope they find a way to preserve what's so cool about digital art—that it's fluid and quicksilver. 2001Pop. Sci. Jan. 11/2 Digi-Frame, Kodak, Sony, and others sell ‘digital picture frames’ (some with Internet connections) that offer a clever alternative to printing your pictures at all. 2008Computer Shopper (Nexis) 1 Aug. 61 If digital painting on steroids is what you're looking for, this software could be for you.
▸ digital-to-analogue n. Electronics designating or relating to a device or system which converts digital signals to analogue ones; esp. in digital-to-analogue converter.
1950C. B. Tompkins & J. H. Wakelin High-speed Computing Devices (Engin. Res. Associates) xv. 393 A *digital-to-analog converter employed in the Bell Telephone Laboratories p.c.m. system makes use of the exponential decay characteristics of the RC circuit. 1991Creem Apr.–May 108/5 The amplifier-less CD/tuner head unit has simply the finest, crispest CD selection you can get into your car, primarily because it employs a MASH digital-to-analog conversion system. 2008Wyoming Tribune Eagle (Nexis) 2 Mar. a3 If you have an analog television, you'll need to get a digital-to-analog set-top converter box to get over-the-air signal.
▸ digital audio n. audio data stored, processed, or transmitted digitally; cf. digital audio broadcasting n. at Additions, digital audio tape n. at Special uses 2.
1969Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 63 590 Some terminals on the system are also equipped with *digital audio. 1984Jrnl. Audio Engin. Soc. 32 394 Most professional applications of digital audio require a large number of channels to be available. 2005Tallahassee (Florida) Democrat (Nexis) 29 May Moorer..counts among his achievements an Emmy for his groundbreaking digital audio work.
▸ digital audio broadcasting n. a technique or system of broadcasting using digital audio signals transmitted over radio channels; abbreviated DAB.
1980Japan Econ. Jrnl. (Nexis) 12 Aug. 21 As PCM *digital audio broadcasting becomes a reality, digital audio discs will replace the present analog discs. 1993New Scientist 13 Mar. 22/3 Digital audio broadcasting (DAB)..will provide sound quality equal to that of a CD. 2007M. C. Keith Radio Station (ed. 7) i. 28/2 Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) makes analog amplitude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) outmoded systems.
▸ digital cash n. money which can be transferred electronically from one party to another; spec. (a) credit recorded on a rechargeable card, from which the cost of a purchase can be debited at a point-of-sale terminal and transferred to the retailer; (b) credit recorded in an electronic account which can be debited when a purchase is made over the Internet; cf. e-cash n.
1991Sci. Amer. June 12/2 David Chaum of the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam..is pushing ‘*digital cash’ based on ‘smart’ credit cards and advanced encryption techniques. 1996Times (Electronic ed.) 24 Jan. Digital cash..should make cybershopping as safe as telephone shopping. 2000Econ. Affairs 20 4/2 Online currencies might also be used in the ‘real’ world, through the use of a card capable of holding and transferring encrypted digital cash. 2005Associated Press State & Local Wire (Nexis) 21 June PayPal..creates ‘digital cash’ by accepting credit card payments from its users and then delivering the payments to a designated recipient.
▸ digital divide n. (a) a division between those in favour of the extensive use of digital technology (esp. computers) and those against it; (b) (now the usual sense) the gulf between those who have ready access to current digital technology (esp. computers and the Internet) and those who do not; (also) the perceived social or educational inequality resulting from this.
1995Columbus (Ohio) Disp. 19 Dec. 8 f, His take, though, is that the zealots on both sides of the *digital divide are ‘full of hooey’. 1996G. A. Poole in N.Y. Times (Nexis) 29 Jan. d3/3 The digital divide between these two schools in the heart of Silicon Valley provides perhaps the most striking example anywhere in the nation of a widening gap—between children who are being prepared for lives and careers in the information age, and those who may find themselves held back. 2008Guardian 7 Feb. (Technology section) 3/1 Initiatives such as the OLPC and the Classmate are intended to help bridge the digital divide. But security experts warn that there could be an unforeseen negative effect.
▸ digital signature n. Computing a digital code (generated and authenticated by public key encryption) which is attached to an electronically transmitted document to verify its contents and the sender's identity.
1976IEEE Trans. Information Theory 22 649/2 Since any digital signal can be copied precisely, a true *digital signature must be recognizable without being known. 1988Computerworld (Nexis) 6 Apr. 10 Doing business electronically without cryptographic protection or digital signatures is very much like doing business on typed postcards. 2005D. Flanagan Java in Nutshell (ed. 5) v. 289 Unlike a pen-and-paper signature..a digital signature is very difficult, if not impossible, to forge.
▸ digital subscriber line n. Computing and Telecomm. = DSL n. at D n. Additions.
1978Internat. Zurich Seminar Digital Communications d5.1/1 The *digital subscriber line should carry two ‘user channels’ for speech and other end-to-end information, and two dedicated signalling channels, one for each direction of transmission. 1985Telephone Engineer & Managem. (Nexis) 1 June 74 A key recommendation is the standard format for the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). This is the facility which connects an individual customer station to the network. 2003N.Y. Times (National ed) 31 July e7/6 A digital subscriber line connection, or D.S.L., takes advantage of this extra room on the line and uses it to send digital data back and forth.
▸ digital subscriber loop n. Computing and Telecomm. = DSL n. at D n. Additions.
1976A. Even-Chaim in IEE Internat. Symp. Subscriber Loops & Services 137183 (title) A *digital subscriber loop using demand assignment. 1996Hollywood Reporter (Nexis) 18 Dec. Telephone providers are eyeing a competitor to another high-speed technology called Digital Subscriber Loop that offers almost as much bandwidth as cable. 2007M. M. Mourad & A. N. Tantawy in C. Douligeris & D. N. Serpanos Network Security xv. 441 The number of homes connected to digital subscriber loop (DSL) or digital cable TV networks is fast increasing.
▸ digital television n. (a) (originally) television in which an incoming analogue signal is converted at the receiver to a digital signal, which can be more readily processed before being used to form the picture; (later) a system of television broadcasting in which programmes (and other material, such as text) are transmitted and received as digital signals (whether by cable, satellite, terrestrial broadcasting, etc.) and are decoded by a device in or attached to the television set; (b) a television set equipped to receive and display digital signals.
1969Colloquium Cathode Ray Tube Displays (Inst. Electr. Engineers) 2/1 (heading) *Digital television displays. 1983Broadcasting (Nexis) 3 Jan. 80 Digital television sets that convert an incoming NTSC analog signal to a digital one and process it to sharpen the picture. 1998Independent 9 Oct. i. 13/1 The days of the video rental shop could be numbered thanks to the launch of dozens of new movie channels on digital television. 2006J. Taylor et al. DVD Demystified (ed. 3) xvii. 12 Video from existing DVDs and players will look better than ever on widescreen digital televisions.
▸ digital tuner n. Electronics (a) a tuner incorporating a digital tuning mechanism and frequency display, receiving only analogue signals; cf. digital tuning n. at Additions; (b) a tuner for receiving digital radio or television signals; cf. digibox n. 3.
[1968Electronic Engin. 40 150 (heading) Frequency lock for digital f.m. tuner.] 1976Electronics 1 Apr. 86/1 One of the latest *digital tuners is the Omega. 1995Kay & Co. (Worcester) Catal. Autumn–Winter 635/1 Stereo mini hi fi system... Long, medium and stereo FM waveband, RDS digital tuner with 32 pre-set station memory. 2004Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 11 July iv. 2/1 The Federal Communications Commission's new plug-and-play standard will require built-in digital tuners in all new sets.
▸ digital tuning n. Electronics tuning (as in a radio or television receiver) which uses digital electronics; esp. a facility which stores and displays the frequency to which a device is tuned as a digital value and enables the tuning frequency to be varied by discrete amounts.
1972H. C. Okean et al. in IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory & Techniques 20 155/1 S-band step-tuned transistor oscillator assembly with better than half-octave *digital tuning range. 1989Which? Jan. 13/2 This has ‘digital’ tuning: the station is selected by pressing ‘up’ and ‘down’ buttons. 2004Smithsonian Nov. 37 (advt.) Packed with all the bells and whistles: digital tuning AM, FM, Shortwave reception, and small enough to fit into your coat pocket.
▸ digital TV n. = digital television n. at Additions.
1981Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 21 Aug. 2 Instead of the complex circuits TV sets now use, *digital TV will need about 10 ‘chips’. 1996New Scientist 10 Aug. 34/2 One of the big selling points of digital TV has been that it will allow viewers to enjoy movies in wide-screen format. 2008Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) (Herald-Times ed.) 17 Feb. a5/4 How do I know if I already have a digital TV (DTV)?
▸ digital versatile disc n. (also digital versatile disk) = DVD n.
1995Telecomworldwire (Electronic ed.) 3 Jan. The electronics industry has finally settled on a name for the next generation of compact disks which will hold seven to fourteen times the amount of data of comparable CDs—they will be known as *digital versatile disks. 2000Ideal Home Nov. 170/1 DVD (digital versatile disc) players are one of the most recent technical innovations, and offer an alternative to VCRs. 2006Daily Mail (Nexis) 22 Nov. 22 Some fanatics still claim the decidedly lemon-like LaserDisc is better than Toshiba's DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), which destroyed it overnight in 1996.
▸ digital video disc n. (also digital video disk) a disc allowing the storage and playback of video in digital form; (in later use) spec. a DVD.
1978Computers in Cardiol. (IEEE) 247/1 Complex images require a high band-width data source; one (relatively) low-cost solution is the use of a ‘*digital’ video disk. 1995Independent on Sunday 30 Apr. (Business section) 4/1 Sony claimed the support of Japan Victor Company for its new Digital Video Disc (DVD). 2006E. J. C. Sobey Field Guide Househ. Technol. ii. 32 The digital video disc (DVD) works like a CD, but it can store about seven times as much data.
▸ Designating a timepiece or other instrument which displays information in the form of individual numerical digits rather than using hands or pointers on a dial, typically by means of an LED or liquid crystal display, as digital clock, digital watch, etc. Also: designating the numerical display itself, as digital display.
1958Science 10 Jan. 98 (advt.) Digital clock covers a 24-hour period. 1976M. Apple Oranging of Amer. (1986) 67 The digital thermometer lies in the yoghurt just as snugly as if the mixture were a patient's milky tongue. 1980J. Wainwright Dominoes ii. 53 The receptionist turned her wrist, consulted her expensive digital watch, then answered her own question. 1989P. Horowitz & W. Hill Art of Electronics (ed. 2) i. 57/1 LEDs are also used for digital displays, most often the familiar 7-segment numeric display you see in calculators. 1996Chef's Catal. Spring 56/2 Features programmable digital timer and drip interrupt. 2005Computer Buyer May 88/2 A type of liquid crystal display (LCD), just like the screen of a digital watch.
▸ a. Designating musical instruments or equipment which store, process, or produce audio signals in digital form; spec. designating an electronic musical instrument intended to simulate the sound of an acoustic one by means of computer technology, typically through the digital storage and playback of audio samples, as digital piano. Cf. synthesizer n. 2.
1970Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 875240/1 A digital electronic organ wherein a digital representation of an organ pipe waveshape is stored in a memory. 1979Computer Music Jrnl. 3 ii. 64 A sixteen-bit mini-computer is the heart of the Synclavier—the world's first and only commercially available digital synthesizer. 1989Forte Spring 6/1 The fact that Roland calls the KR–33 a ‘Digital Keyboard’, and not digital piano, synth, nor home keyboard, gives you an idea of the instrument's crossover potential. 1991Electronic Musician Nov. 84/2 The SQ-2 has 21-note polyphony, 8-part multitimbral operation, a digital effects processor, and a 16-track sequencer. 2008Belleville (Ontario) Intelligencer (Nexis) 14 June 30 He..now plays a digital piano in his apartment so as not to wake the neighbours at 5:30 a.m.
b. Of music or sound: produced by a digital instrument, esp. a digital synthesizer; having timbral or rhythmic qualities associated with digital synthesis or processing. Also: relating to, involving, or characterized by such sound or music.
1991P. Sweeney Virgin Directory World Music 185 The move to artificially created dancehall peaked in the creation of ‘digital dancehall’, or ‘digi’, in which a voice, a computerised keyboard and a drum machine were the only ingredients. 1995Harper's Mag. Sept. 5/3 The voice is digital, grinning, and prerecorded. 2000S. Broughton et al. World Music: Rough Guide II. ii. 446/1 The digital DJ of the eighties was characteristically ragga—ragamuffin in style and attitude. 2003Pop. Sci. July 11/1 Many audiophiles..consider analog to be softer sound in comparison to harsher digital tones.
▸ Designating data represented by a series of discrete values (commonly the numbers 0 and 1), typically for electronic storage or processing; (also) of, relating to, or involving data of this type. Opposed to analogue.
Such data is commonly represented by discrete values of a physical quantity such as voltage or magnetic polarization.
1940U.S. Patent 2,207,537 1/1 In the transmission of direct current digital impulses over a long line the characteristics of the line tend to mutilate the wave shape. 1959Times 13 Oct. 11/7 Data are stored in an electronic ‘memory’ or ‘information bank’, using digital techniques. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. 24 255/1 In the digital averager we have designed and built, only 1,024 bits are available for each of four channels. 1976IEEE Trans. Information Theory 22 649/2 Any digital signal can be copied precisely. 1994Science 5 Aug. 736 A Stanford team has demonstrated the first complete system for storing digital information in these optical inscriptions [sc. holograms]. 2008Guardian (Nexis) 8 Aug. 32 The aim was to translate into digital code the raw information that's embedded in the brain activity.
▸ Relating to or involving the capture, storage, or manipulation of still or moving images by digital means; (of an image) stored or represented in digital form, or produced by digital means; (of a device) capturing, storing, or generating such images. Freq. as digital photo, digital photography, etc.
Recorded earliest in digital camera n. at Special uses 2.
1961U.S. Patent 2,994,863 2 The apparatus of the invention..may be characterized as a multiple target reading digital camera or general purpose digital camera. 1974Internat. Jrnl. Syst. Sci. 5 219 A one-dimensional state variable filter is extended to two dimensions..and is applied to perform image enhancement of digital photographs. 1985Financial Times (Nexis) 1 May iv. 8 The production of digital photographs..allows anything (but usually drawings) to be photographed, reproduced digitally on the screen, and there edited or incorporated in textual documents. 1996Guardian 14 Dec. 6/3 Digital photography..is the photographic movement of the future. 2001RES 4 80/1, I had come to a small island off the coast of Hiroshima to invent and shoot Winter Oranges, another digital film feature. |