codedadj.
/ˈkəʊdᵻd/, U.S. /ˈkoʊdəd/ I. Senses relating to systems of signs or symbols.
1. That has been converted or transcribed into code; that is expressed in code, esp. with the aim of rendering a message unintelligible to all but the intended recipient.
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1869 Engineering 12 Nov. 324/3 There are many strong arguments why people should be allowed to send coded messages through the telegraph at ordinary rates of charge.
1928 P. Buranelli et al. Cryptogram Bk. p. ii We were amazed at the ease with which anyone could break a coded message.
1976 N.Y. Times 27 Jan. (Late Jersey ed.) 35/5 The hospital records of seriously ill patients often contained coded instructions for attending nurses and physicians.
2019 S. Cleverly Last Secret (e-book ed.) ii I had no way to be sure, since we couldn't read the coded writing.
2. That has been assigned a code, esp. for purposes of classification or identification. Chiefly as the second element in compounds.Recorded earliest in colour-coded adj.
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1907 Amer. Telephone Jrnl. 23 Mar. 33/2 (advt.) Switchboard Wire (Color Coded).
1924 Motor Transport 15 Feb. 57/1 On this card holes are then punched to indicate the..cost and amount of coded items such as parts bought.
1975 Winnipeg Free Press 4 Oct. (Final ed.) 1/5 Uncoded mail is sorted manually and the error rate is far less than for coded mail.
2011 R. Winkelmayer et al. in P. Paulson et al. Game Meat Hygiene in Focus iii. 255 Each participant received two coded samples and had to examine them and report the results.
3. Computing. Converted into code usable by a computer; expressed or written as computer code.
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1948 Electronics Sept. 116/3 A coded order can be converted to the selection of a gate opening voltage.
1958 Oxf. Mag. 29 May 469/1 The preparation of ‘data’ and ‘instructions’ in the coded form acceptable by the machine.
1982 Sci. Amer. Jan. 117/1 Instructions are coded patterns of bits that specify the operations to be done and carry addressing information for gaining access to memory.
2018 Irish Independent (Nexis) 4 Dec. Smart contracts are digitally coded contracts that self-execute when contract conditions are satisfied.
4. Represented or expressed in terms of the genetic code; forming part of the genetic code. Cf. code n. 6.
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1957 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 101 324/1 It may be calculated that a thousand unit polynucleotide linear chain consisting of a coded repeat of only four different components, adenine, guanine, cytosine, and uracil, in the same ratio as exists in tobacco mosaic virus nucleic acid could form about 10590 different arrangements.
1959 Jrnl. Molecular Biol. 1 218 These molecules presumably carry in coded form the information necessary to specify the many features of the particular organism concerned.
1976 R. Dawkins Selfish Gene iii. 24 The coded message of the DNA, written in the four-letter nucleotide alphabet, is translated in a simple mechanical way into another alphabet. This is the alphabet of amino acids which spells out protein molecules.
2001 O. Wolkenhauer in G. della Riccia et al. Data Fusion & Perception 121 The process by which a gene's coded information is converted into the structures present and operating in the cell is called gene expression.
II. Senses relating to systems of law, etc.
5. Of laws, regulations, etc.: recorded or collected in a legal code.
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1876 Brisbane Courier 25 Feb. His offences are of that cunning sort which elude the direct penalties of the coded laws.
1906 Arms & Explosives June 70/2 The difficulties of securing anything in the way of coded regulations as between one country and another are very great.
2012 Minnesota Hist. 63 1/2 Laws of a permanent nature are subsequently incorporated in the Minnesota Statues, also known as coded laws.
III. Extended uses.
6. Of words, statements, etc.: expressing a meaning in a way that is indirect, deliberately euphemistic, or concealed from the uninitiated.
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1961 Man. for Survival (Church League Amer.) v. 55 This coded language conveys one definite sense and meaning to initiated Communists and sympathetic supporters. It carries an entirely different and deceptive meaning to the non-Communist world.
1992 G. Adair Post-modernist always rings Twice 135 Why, instead of making joshingly coded allusions to his deficiencies, did no American journalist..ever call him a moron and be done with it?
2019 Financial Times (Nexis) 18 July 3 She was ‘worried about the state of politics’ due to the ‘absolutes, and of perpetual strife’ resulting from a lack of ‘pragmatism’—a coded reference to MPs she had hoped would support her Brexit withdrawal agreement.
7. Shaped by any (unwritten) system of social or cultural conventions or customs; that has been assigned a category, meaning, or symbolism according to such a system. Frequently as the second element in compounds.Cf. gender-coded adj. at gender n. Compounds 2c.
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1967 Amer. Behavioral Scientist Apr. 8/1 In human communication people in social organization perform and interpret repertoires of coded behavior.
1992 R. Pearson Eloquent Gestures 28 Verisimilitude should not be equated with reality; it refers, rather, to a particular culture's coded expectations about the artistic representation of reality.
2000 Gender & Society 14 778 Children tend to avoid cross-sex toys, with boys' avoidance of feminine-coded toys appearing to be stronger than girls' avoidance of masculine-coded toys.
2010 M. Germanà Sc. Women's Gothic & Fantastic Writing iii. 80 Grace, Margaret's mother, is the seemingly passive recipient of coded gender roles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1869