α. 1600s sisteem, 1600s sisteme, 1600s sisteyme (Scottish), 1600s systeem, 1600s systeime, 1600s–1700s sistem, 1600s–1700s 1900s– systeme, 1600s– system, 1900s– système.
β. 1600s systema.
systemn.
/ˈsɪstᵻm/, U.S. /ˈsɪstəm/ I. An organized or connected group of things.† 2. The whole scheme of created things, the universe. Obsolete.Cf. senses 4, 13c.
1. Music.
a. In ancient Greek music: a compound interval, i.e. one consisting of several degrees (cf. diastem n.). Also: a scale or series of notes extending through such an interval, and serving as the basis of musical composition. greater (lesser) perfect system: a compound interval composed of four (three) stacked tetrachords.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > system of sounds or intervals > [noun]
systemc1580
scale1597
diagram1656
gamut1702
harmonics1702
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > pitch > interval > [noun] > degree > in ancient Greek music > more than one
systemc1580
c1580 Art of Music f. 31, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Sisteme Everie noit fro the proper key of the sisteyme may be uprasit or subducit be diatessaron, diapenthe and diapason.
1603 P. Holland in tr. Plutarch Morals Explan. Tearmes sig. Zzzzz3 Disdia pason, A duple Eight; or quadruple Fourth; which was counted in old time the greatest Systema in the Musicke scale.
1612 J. Dowland Pilgrimes Solace (To Reader) Some simple Cantors, or vocall singers, who..are meerely ignorant, euen in the first elements of Musicke, and also in the true order of the mutation of the Hexachord in the Systeme.
1694 W. Holder Treat. Harmony vi. 144 Diastem signifies an Interval..; System, a Conjunction..of Intervals.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I System, in Musick is the Extent of a certain Number of Chords, having its bounds towards the Grave and Acute.
1721 A. Malcolm Treat. Musick 333 That we may know where each Part lies in the Scale or general System,..which is the true Design and Office of the Clefs.
1776 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music I. 12 Any interval between the terms of which one or more sounds intervened, was by the ancients called a System.
1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 625/1 The fundamental system in ancient music was the tetrachord, or system of four sounds.
1898 J. Stainer Stainer & Barrett's Dict. Musical Terms (rev. ed.) 207/2 After the time of Ion, the original Greek scale received only one more string, the eleventh... In this..form, it became the ‘lesser perfect system’ of the Greeks.
1929 J. F. Mountford in J. Powell & E. Barber New Chapters Hist. Greek Lit. 180 The author then turns to the Greater Perfect System, which was a theoretical scale with a compass of two octaves.
1999 J. G. Landels Music in Anc. Greece & Rome (2002) iii. 88 In constructing a ‘system’, Aristoxenos did not in practice start from the interval as the unit or building block. He started from a basic group of intervals, called a tetrachord.
b. A stave or set of staves connected by a brace in a score.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > notation > [noun] > stave
scale1598
system1653
staff1654
stave1786
society > leisure > the arts > music > written or printed music > notation > [noun] > stave > set of staves
system1889
1653 Ld. Brouncker Animadversions in tr. R. Descartes Excellent Compend. Musick 72 In every Musicall Systeme, (whereof there are two sorts; the greater of Ten paralell Lines, and the lesser of Five:) every Line is the seat of one Note, and every intervall of another.
1672 T. Salmon Ess. Advancem. Musick 61 A Mean and Treble, which may be..placed upon a Systeme of four or five lines.
1721 A. Malcolm Treat. Musick xi. 332 The highest Part is called the Treble, or Alt whose Clef is g, set on the 2d Line of the particular System, counting upward.
1889 G. Grove Dict. Music IV. 45/2 System, the collection of staves necessary for the complete score of a piece.
1905 in F. Dumont Witmark Amateur Minstrel Guide (rev. ed.) Advt. 154 The male and female voice parts are printed on a separate system of staves.
1967 Notes 23 830/1 The movement employs a fourteen-stave system.
2000 E. R. Phillips G. Fauré iii. 92 Number of staves per system varies as needed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > [noun]
kindlOE
worldc1175
framea1325
creaturec1384
universityc1450
engine?1510
universal1569
universality1577
mass1587
universe1589
all1598
cosmosie1600
macrocosm1602
existence1610
system1610
megacosm1617
cosmos1650
materialism1817
world-all1847
panarchy1848
multiverse1895
metaverse1994
1610 J. Selden Michael! in M. Drayton Poems (rev. ed.) sig. A5 Thy Martiall Pyrrhique, and thy Epique straine Digesting Warres with heart-vniting Loues. (The two first Authors of what is compos'd In this round Systeme All).
1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor i. i. 3 Supreme Rule, wherevnder the whole Systeme of the world is gouerned.
1675 E. Sherburne tr. M. Manilius Sphere 39 He..Who first the Walls of this wide System made Of Atoms.
1748 J. Hervey Contempl. Starry Heavens 20 in Medit. & Contempl. (ed. 2) II. If then, not our Globe only, but this whole System, be so very diminutive; what is a Kingdom, or a County?
1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 2 The blessings of Nature, have in no part of our habitable system, been dispensed with a more liberal hand.
1816 G. Field in Pamphleteer (1817) 9 101 (title) Τριτογενεα; or, a brief outline of the Universal System.
3.
a. A group or set of related or associated things perceived or thought of as a unity or complex whole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > [noun] > quality of being systematic > systematic arrangement > a system or scheme
systema1638
syst.1657
scheme1736
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > group > a set of things forming a complex unity
systema1638
syst.1657
a1638 J. Mede Apostasy Latter Times (1641) 64 Mans life is a systeme of divers ages... The yeare is a systeme of foure seasons.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. i. 15 The Universe, as it comprehends the Systeme, Order and Excellencies of all created Beings.
1726 Bp. J. Butler 15 Serm. iii. 46 The Body is a System or Constitution: So is a Tree: So is every Machine.
1775 J. Bryant New Syst. (ed. 2) II. 469 The exit from the Ark; when the whole of the animal system issued to light.
1779 S. Johnson Milton in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets II. 219 The preservation of every verse unmingled with another, as a distinct system of sounds.
1788 J. Priestley Lect. Hist. iii. xiv. 111 The Greeks distributed their years into systems of four, calling them Olympiads.
1812 W. Marsden Dict. Malayan Lang. p. x It becomes necessary to simplify the system of vowels, to make choice of such as are best suited to the several well defined vocal sounds.
1829 Chapters Physical Sci. 391 The ancients divided the starry sphere into..constellations, or systems of stars.
1881 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 2 227 Both Hommel and Haupt attempt to construct the sibilant and dental system of the parent Semitic language.
2010 New Yorker 26 Apr. 73/3 The Deobandi movement, which..established a system of religious schools.
b. A set of persons working together as parts of an interconnecting network.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > [noun]
affairs?1473
business1478
negocies1598
traffic1603
system1651
concernsa1676
business model1832
society > society and the community > social relations > [noun] > operations or interactions of organization
system1651
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxii. 115 By Systemes; I understand any numbers of men joyned in one Interest, or one Businesse.
1732 P. Dudley Ess. on Merchandise of Slaves & Souls of Men 29 We are not to understand, as the Papists would have us believe, a single Person, but a Compages of many, or a System of Men, either existing together or succeeding one another.
1837 Brit. Farmer's Mag. Mar. 216 A system of persons partly obtaining support by labour and partly from the public purse.
1891 J. R. Allen Man, Money & Bible 137 Christianity is essentially a system of individuals united together in a great co-operative society whose binding cord is love.
1967 R. Whitehead in G. Wills & R. Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. iv. 70 The health of the nation is made possible by a number of systems: doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, chemists, and, of course, patients.
1969 D. C. Hague Managerial Econ. i. 17 We have been considering models for analysing business problems. These seek to state the set of relationships—what we shall call the system—within which and about which business decisions have to be taken.
2009 M. Noorani Power i. 13 We may belong to a church or other religious grouping, which is a system of people supporting each other.
c.
(a) A collection of artificial objects organized for a particular purpose, as components of a mechanism, roads, architectural features, etc.ignition system, speaker system, sprinkler system, transportation system, wiring system, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1734 J. T. Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. I. 131 Comparing this System of lower Pulleys with Fig. 5. of Plate 13.
1794 G. Adams Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. III. xxix. 215 The system of wheels and pinions which compose the intermediate parts of the clock.
a1830 J. F. W. Herschel Sound in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 804 Joint vibrations of a plate and string as a system.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect Introd. ii. 30 A system of telegraph wires.
1888 Technic (Univ. Mich. Engin. Soc.) 4 72 It has a bottom of one-quarter inch plate iron and is supported on floor timbers which rest on a system of girders.
1904 Brit. & Colonial Printer 10 Mar. 14/2 A linkage system transmits the movement to the slide bars.
1943 N.Y. Times 15 Oct. 26/1 A system of raceways originally designed to carry water power to mills remote from the falls.
1989 J. Trollope Village Affair ii. 25 Mantovani was being played whisperingly over the loudspeaker system.
2010 Iola (Kansas) Reg. 10 May 4/2 Our economy and our national welfare is..even more dependent on the best possible system of highways.
(b) A set of equipment for reproducing or recording sound, typically one designed to give high-quality reproduction and amplification; a sound system. Also: such equipment combined in a single integrated unit; a music centre.In earliest use: a juke-box.
ΚΠ
1946 Billboard 17 Sept. /1 (advt.) All the facilities..to teach installation and maintenance of Seeburg Automatic Music Systems, including technicians highly trained in the technique of Seeburg Systems.
1960 Pop. Mech. Oct. /1 (caption) Complete built-in system fits neatly in a corner of the room.
1960 HiFi/Stereo Rev. 5 13/3 Regardless of whether he already owns equipment, or is planning to buy a new system.
1971 Hi-Fi Sound Feb. 64/3 The very best domestic equipment..can be placed way ahead of most systems installed in..studio environments.
1984 Brian Mills Catal. Spring 640/1 Fidelity stack system and speakers.
1997 Pop. Sci. Aug. 51/1 (advt.) The system is the result of a 14-year effort..to produce rich, natural, high-fidelity sound from a simple, compact unit.
2007 in G. Dyer Working Room (2010) 271 Rob was a hi-fi nut and invited me round to their semi-detached house to hear his system in action.
(c) A prefabricated construction unit used in system building.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > [noun] > unit in system building
system1963
1963 Industrialised Building Syst. & Components Oct. 5 Industrialised building is not the mere substitution of prefabrication for traditional methods or the adoption of ‘systems’.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia III. 455/2 Basically a modular volumetric unit composed of some combination of walls, roof, and/or floor, the box system is usually prefabricated in a plant.
1987 Ironworker June 10/1 Ironworkers..have successfully erected all of the prefabricated stone panel systems in the Greater New York City Area.
2010 R. E. Smith Prefab Archit. iv. 83 With a prefabricated proprietary system, once a system needs to be fixed or updated, remodel construction is difficult.
d. A collection of natural objects, features, or phenomena considered as or forming a connected or complex whole.river system: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > group > a set of things forming a complex unity > of natural phenomena
seta1616
system1815
1815 Philos. Mag. 45 171 The effect of wise design is throughout clearly manifested, in so directing the stupendous excavating cause (or causes) as to produce the perfect system of valleys..for its drainage.
1831 D. Brewster Treat. Optics xxviii. 237 We place a sphere of glass in a glass trough of hot oil, and observe the system of rings, while the heat is passing to the centre of the sphere.
1917 Geogr. Jrnl. 49 115 Its flanks on the southern face are torn and ravinated by a system of gigantic gorges.
1987 Descent Jan. 17/2 Were these caves interconnected,..a system between 30 and 80 miles in length could exist.
2005 Time 10 Jan. 55/1 A chaotic system like weather appears to behave randomly but is actually governed by rules.
4. A group of natural objects moving in relation to one another under the laws of nature; (Astronomy) a group of celestial objects interacting by gravitational forces and moving in orbits about a centre of gravity or central body (as a group of two or more stars, a star with its attendant planets, or a planet with its attendant satellites).Alpha Centauri system, binary system, dynamical system, planetary system, solar system, star system, etc.: see the first element.Cf. senses 2, 13c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > heavenly body > [noun] > group
system1665
1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 19 More of them [sc. comets] enter into our Systeme by the sign of Libra and about Spica virginis, then by all the other parts of the Heavens.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iv. iii. 277 If we..confine our Thoughts to this little Canton, I mean this System of our Sun.
1733 A. Pope Ess. Man i. 31 Observe how System into System runs, What other Planets, and what other Suns.
1787 J. Brown Observ. Princ. Old Syst. Physic p. iii The system of the planets, discovered by Sir Isaac Newton, is applicative science.
1870 R. A. Proctor Other Worlds than Ours xii. 274 First satellite-systems, then planetary systems, then star-systems, then systems of star-systems.
1930 J. H. Jeans Universe around Us (ed. 2) i. 16 There is the newly discovered planet Pluto, the outermost member of our system so far known.
2013 New Scientist 9 Feb. 46/2 A viable way of teasing out the behaviour of any quantum system, however complex.
5.
a. Biology. A set of organs, other body parts, or tissues having a common structure or function. Usually with distinguishing word.alimentary system, immune system, nervous system, vascular system, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > system > [noun] > organ > set of
system1669
the world > plants > part of plant > cell or aggregate tissue > [noun] > tissue > type of
system1896
1669 J. Reynolds Disc. Prodigious Abstinence 28 Supposing a flux of animal spirits through the nervous systeme.
1740 G. Cheyne Ess. Regimen 168 Accidents that injure the arterial and nervous system.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 746/1 Caries..attacks the cranium in common with the rest of the osseous system.
1841 T. R. Jones Gen. Outl. Animal Kingdom xv. 302 The generative system appears, at first, to be absolutely wanting in the larva.
1896 Bot. Gaz. 21 237 The vegetative and reproductive systems of a fungus are clearly and broadly indicated.
1930 H. G. Newth Marshall & Hurst's Junior Course Pract. Zool. (ed. 11) x. 183 The respiratory system consists of a series of tracheal tubes containing air.
1935 J. S. Lee Underworld of East v. 28 I found that my digestive system was getting out of order.
2012 Atlantic Oct. 30/1 The mesolimbic dopamine system—the seat of the brain's reward mechanism—was more engaged by questions about the test subject's own opinions and attitudes.
b. With the or possessive adjective. The body (or body and mind) and its vital functions as a whole.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > system > [noun]
habit1584
system1692
1692 M. Morgan Elegy Death Robert Boyle 16 Then the whole System with the Scurvey jarrs, You're drown'd in Dropsies, strangled wth Catarrs.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 18 Whilst over-wrought, the general system feels Its motions stopt.
1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 526 Introducing vaccine virus into the system.
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. xii. 316 Ennui so powerfully predominates over your whole system, mental and bodily, that [etc.].
1840 H. Weekes in J. Rutherford & W. H. Skinner Establishment New Plymouth Settlement (1940) 9 I was attacked by the emigration fever, to which there had been evidently a predisposition in my system for some time.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood xii. 195 Let him drench his system with small ale.
2005 Woman & Home July 135 Watermelon and cranberry juice are natural diuretics and will help flush out your system.
6. Prosody. A sequence of connected lines of verse, periods, etc.; (Ancient Greek Prosody) a sequence of lines of verse in anapaestic meter.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > part of poem > [noun] > stanza > schemes of grouping
system1778
scheme1838
tern1879
1778 Crit. Rev. Nov. 323 The poem consists of twenty-two lines, or of twenty-two systems of lines, or periods, or stanzas, according to the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
1850 W. Mure Hist. Lang. & Lit. Greece III. 54 A System is a..section of the text of a metrical composition, the numbers of which..are too extensive to admit of their being comprised in a single verse.
1855 F. A. Paley in tr. Aeschylus Agamemnon in Trag. 306/2 The chorus..enter the orchestra..and..sing the following system of anapaests.
1881 Ld. Selborne in Encycl. Brit. XII. 580/1 A canon is a system of eight (theoretically nine) connected odes, the second being always suppressed.
1902 Classical Rev. 16 149/1 The fact that five plays of Euripides..end with a practically identical system of anapaests, and three others..with a similar by shorter system, is a special case.
1925 G. W. Wade Bks. Prophet Micah p. cxxxix In a system of verses the lines may be equal, if measured by the stressed words or groups of words which they contain.
1993 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 114 347 Messenger scenes are usually connected with the following scene by an anapaestic system or, as here, by an astrophic ode.
7. Crystallography. A distinct class of crystal forms; †(a) a set or series of crystal forms, esp. as adopted by a particular chemical species (obsolete); (b) (in later use) each of the different general patterns of geometrical organization in three dimensions that are exhibited by crystals, distinguished by their symmetry relations; = crystal system n. at crystal n. and adj. Compounds 2.The modern use of the term originates with F. Mohs (cf. quot. 1820), whose original four systems were soon expanded to six or seven, now generally called cubic (or isometric), hexagonal, tetragonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic (with the trigonal system often added as distinct from the hexagonal).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > crystallography (general) > crystal (general) > crystal systems > [noun]
system1815
crystal system1847
1815 Philos. Mag. 45 347 The particles of the salt thus formed ought to have as their representative form a rhomboidal dodecahedron: this form is, in fact, one of those which belong to the system of crystallization of sal ammoniac.
1820 R. Jameson Syst. Mineral. (ed. 3) I. p. xci According to Mohs, all the regular forms in the mineral kingdom are reducible to some one of four great systems or groupes, named Rhomboidal, Pyramidal, Prismatical, and Hexahedral or tessular.
1824 W. Haidinger in Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 10 305 The Systems of Crystallisation, viz. the tessular, the rhombohedral, the pyramidal, and the prismatic system, must be increased by another, which contains the hemiprismatic forms.
1844 G. Fownes Man. Elem. Chem. 212 All crystalline forms may..be arranged in six classes or systems.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xxxviii. 732 These two minerals form black opaque crystals belonging to the orthorhombic system.
1948 R. M. Pearl Pop. Gemol. ii. 17 The six systems may further be subdivided into a total of 32 crystal classes or 230 space-groups, according to symmetry.
2008 Lapidary Jrnl. Jewelry Artist Apr. 56/2 There are seven crystal systems (isometric, monoclinic, etc., including the trigonal system of benitoite).
8. Geology. Originally: a major stratigraphic division. Now: spec. that corresponding to a geological period (period n. 6) and further divided into a number of series; the rocks deposited during a specific period.Systems take the same name as the corresponding period: Cretaceous, Jurassic, Carboniferous, Devonian, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > age or period > stratigraphic units > [noun]
series1799
system1823
terrain1823
stage1859
group1865
section1882
horizon1926
cyclothem1932
succession1940
range zone1957
1823 tr. A. von Humboldt Geognostical Ess. Superposition Rocks 28 In the tabular arrangement,..the great divisions, known by the name of primitive, intermediary, secondary, and tertiary formations, are preserved. The natural limits of these four systems of rocks [Fr. systèmes de roches] are, the clay-slate,..the coal formation, and those that succeed immediately to chalk.
1829 A. Sedgwick in Trans. Geol. Soc. 3 121 The previous statements seem to show, that the system of the new red sandstone could not have been produced by any sudden and transitory agency.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 125 We may select the great carboniferous series..as the oldest system of rocks of which the organic remains furnish any decisive evidence as to climate.
1839 R. I. Murchison Silurian Syst. xiv. 169 I venture..to apply to it [sc. the Old Red Sandstone] the term system, in order to convey a just conception of its importance in the natural succession of rocks.
1885 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) vi. Introd. 631 We speak of the Chalk or Cretaceous system, and embrace, under that term, formations which may contain no chalk.
1944 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. vii. 103 Pebbles of Shap granite..occur in the conglomerates at the base of the Carboniferous system in Westmorland.
1961 Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists 45 658/2 The system is the fundamental unit of world-wide time-stratigraphic classification of Phanerozoic rocks.
1971 Nature 12 Feb. 480/2 In historical geology, the subdivision of periods into epochs and ages (or systems into series and stages) is usually defined by unconformities.
2004 A. Hallam Catastrophes & Lesser Calamities (2005) v. 85 The Salt Range Permian has long been a classic system for stratigraphers.
9. Meteorology. An area of high or low atmospheric pressure, or the associated pattern of winds and air movements, considered as a unit in the production of weather; a cyclone or anticyclone. Frequently with modifying word.storm system: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > movements and pressure conditions > [noun] > atmospheric pressure > cyclone or anticyclone
system1867
cyclone1875
anticyclone1877
mesocyclone1963
1867 A. Buchan Handy Bk. Meteorol. x. 147 The winds circulate round the centre of least pressure; or, to speak more accurately, the whole atmospheric system appears to flow in upon the centre in an in-moving spiral course.
1885 Times 26 Oct. 6/6 The barometer is (relatively) high over the Bay of Biscay and..Scandinavia, and these two high-pressure systems are joined by a ‘col’ which lies over the North Sea.
1934 A. H. R. Goldie Abercromby's Weather (rev. ed.) xii. 183 It will be convenient to describe both the wind systems and the pressure systems at the same time.
1994 Sporting Life 28 Oct. 19/6 Cloud ahead of the next rain-bearing system will spread into Ireland from the Atlantic during the afternoon.
2012 N.Y. Times Mag. 11 Nov. 43/1 Even tornadoes, the region's defining devil winds, are a result of a meteorological collision: a convergence of three different weather systems.
10. Chemistry and Metallurgy. The set of the various phases that two or more given substances are capable of forming at different temperatures and pressures; a mixture of two or more substances considered in respect of its possible phases. Frequently with modifying term, as alloy system, eutectic system.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > [noun] > metal phases
system1888
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [noun] > set of phases
system1888
1888 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 54 1151 Three curves meet at this point representing the equilibria of the three systems of two phases which can be formed from these three phases.
1911 Jrnl. Inst. Metals 5 127 This diagram was the first attempt to construct what would in present-day terminology be the Equilibrium Diagram of the Copper-Zinc System.
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 754/2 In alloys in a eutectic system (except the eutectic alloy), crystals of one metal are formed from a melt containing two.
1956 Monogr. & Rep. Ser. Inst. Metals No. 18. 73 In the lead-tin alloys, as in many other alloy systems, precipitation is accompanied by recrystallization.
1977 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) July 82/3 Both cements are based on the ternary system of oxides of calcium, silicon and aluminum (CaO-SiO2-Al2O3).
2009 R. Abbaschian et al. Physical Metall. Princ. (ed. 4) ix. 267 Such a system is only possible when both components (pure metals) have the same valence.
11. Computing.
a. A computer, typically considered together with associated hardware and software; a group of networked computers, esp. one dedicated to a single application. Cf. computer system n. at computer n. Compounds 1b.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > computer > [noun]
computator1869
computor1940
computer1946
computer system1949
data processor1950
system1956
1956 Railroad Workers Jrnl. Mar. 33/1 The new system,..will be installed before the end of 1956... The device will be able to handle the most complicated combinations of reserved coach, roomette, drawing room and compartment space.
1968 Fortune Jan. 48/1 Stockmaster was the first interrogation unit with ‘simultaneous access’—i.e., any number of brokers in a given office can use the system at one time.
1989 C. Stoll Cuckoo's Egg i. 4 Dave wandered into my office, mumbling about a hiccup in the Unix accounting system.
1997 PC Mag. 217/1 217/1 Restart the system in DOS mode and delete all files in the Temp directory.
2012 PC Pro Mar. 55/1 A vulnerability in a web browser allows a site to install software onto your system without your knowledge.
b. A group of related or interconnected programs; (also) = operating system n.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software
supervisor1956
system program1956
software1958
system1958
systems program1960
operating system1961
monitor1962
system software1962
open system1981
1958 Proc. Eastern Joint Computer Conf. 1957 218/1 We have built the equipment and written a first system of programs.
1990 AD/Cycle Digest Summer 15/2 This system of more than 250 COBOL programs is the cornerstone of Pratt & Whitney's basic business function.
1995 PC Mag. 6 Feb. 214/1 (advt.) When you move up to Windows 95, you'll discover a system that's faster, easier and more fun to use.
2003 S. Garfinkel et al. Pract. UNIX & Internet Security (ed. 3) v. 111 You are creating a system of programs that need to communicate with each other by using signals.
12. Linguistics. A group of terms, units, or categories, in a paradigmatic relationship to one another; frequently opposed to structure.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > [noun] > linguistic system
pattern1921
system1957
1957 J. R. Firth in Stud. in Ling. Anal. vii. 17 The first principle of phonological and grammatical analysis is to distinguish between structure and system... Systems..are restricted to a set or sets of paradigmatic relations between commutable units or terms which provide values for the elements of structure.
1964 R. H. Robins Gen. Linguistics ii. 49 It is useful to employ structure..specifically with reference to groupings of syntagmatically related elements, and system with reference to classes of paradigmatically related elements.
1988 R. Hodge & G. Kress Social Semiotics ii. 16 Synchronic linguistics deals with signs which have a value, a place in a system or structure, syntagmatic or paradigmatic, that is, a signification.
2012 M. Zappavigna Tacit Knowl. & Spoken Disc. ii. 49 Firth's ideas about how the notion of a system might be used to model language were taken up in Halliday's development of system networks.
II. A set of principles, beliefs, etc.; a scheme, a method.
13. † d. Theory, hypothesis; theory (as opposed to practice). colloquial. Obsolete.
a. A work or writing containing a comprehensive and regularly arranged exposition of some subject; a systematic treatise. Now rare.In later use found exclusively in book titles.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > treatise or dissertation > [noun] > systematic treatise
syntagma1587
method1589
system1613
syntagm1621
1613 R. Zouche Dove To Rdr. sig. E7 There are some, who, had they beene shewed that which was pleasing, would haue prooued successefull, when they haue returned exceeding empty from Systems and Commentaries.
1661 J. Fell Life Hammond 6 He presently bought a Systeme of Divinity, with design to apply himself straightway to that study.
1722 A. Nisbet (title) A system of heraldry, speculative and practical.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iii. iii. 41 Astronomers (who have written large Systems).
1772 J. Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. p. xxxii It will be..advisable, that he give his lectures from a short text or system, written,..that they may have an opportunity of perusing it.
1896 T. C. Allbutt (title) A system of medicine.
1993 R. Martin (title) A system of rights.
b. A body of theory or practice relating to or prescribing a particular form of government, religion, philosophy, etc.; a department of knowledge or belief considered as an organized whole; a comprehensive and methodically arranged survey of a subject.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > [noun] > theory of knowledge, system
system1615
theory?1634
philosophy1668
technology1683
scheme1690
stock-in-tradea1806
episteme1842
Wissenschaftslehre1846
epistemics1901
1615 T. Jackson Justifying Faith i. viii. 86 Hee cannot draw a map, or perfect systeme of diuinity.
1699 T. Baker Refl. Learning i. 4 The moderns..more pleas'd with their own inventions, than with the dry Systems of the Old Philosophers.
1758 C. Fleming (title) A Survey of the Search after Souls,..wherein The principal Arguments for and against the Materiality are collected: And the Distinction between the mechanical and moral System stated.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xxvii. 59 The humanity of Ambrose tempted him to make a singular breach in his theological system.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam Prol. p. vi Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 421 In the Hegelian system ideas supersede persons.
1931 H. Read Meaning of Art ii. 126 In any great picture you will find a whole system of values, some scientific, some formal, some spiritual.
1974 S. Middleton Holiday i. 5 He never attempted to organise or coordinate his knowledge into a system.
2006 Philos. Now Feb. 24/2 Man's position in a divinely-ordered cosmos could be expressed as a transcendental system of knowledge.
c. Astronomy. A theory or hypothesis of the arrangement and relations of celestial objects, esp. in the solar system, by which their observed movements and phenomena may be explained. Now historical.Copernican system: see the first element.Cf. senses 2, 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > cosmology > science of observation > theory > [noun] > system of astronomy
system1621
uranology1735
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. iii. 328 Our later Mathematitians..haue invented new hypotheses, and fabricated new systemes of the World, out of their own Dedalian heads.
1640 Bp. J. Wilkins Disc. New World & Another Planet (new ed.) ii. vii. 134 You may easily enough discerne them, by considering the whole frame of the Heavens, as they are according to the Systeme of Copernicus.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. i. §81. 186 To describe the Tychonic System of the World.
1782 S. Neville Diary 27 Feb. (1950) xiii. 290 The first part shews the Ptolemaic system & the erroneous ideas of the ancients in Astronomy.
1831 D. Brewster Life I. Newton xvi. 294 The Copernican system is not more demonstrably true than the system of theological truth contained in the Bible.
1870 R. A. Proctor in Eng. Mech. 4 Mar. 598/3 His ellipses were..as available for the Tychonic system as for the Copernican.
1930 J. H. Jeans Universe around Us (ed. 2) Introd. 2 Ptolemy had explained the tracks of the planets across the sky in terms of a complicated system of cycles and epicycles.
2003 D. Grinspoon Lonely Planets (2004) i. 10 Astronomers didn't immediately embrace the new system of Copernicus.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > speculation > hypothesis > [noun]
supposition1603
postulate1643
hypothesis1646
system1650
substration1830
the mind > mental capacity > belief > speculation > confirmation of hypothesis, theory > [noun]
theoretic1601
theory?1634
system1650
scheme1675
theoreticals1809
1650 G. Walker Anglo-Tyrannus 2 Though in the Theorie and System the English Government hath been limited, and bounded by good, and distinguishing lawes, yet in the exercise and practic part of every Kings raign, we shall find it deserve as bad a name as others, who are called most absolute.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) System and Hypothesis, have the same Signification; unless, perhaps, Hypothesis be a more particular System; and System a more general Hypothesis.
1750 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 6 Aug. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1573 In the course of the world there is the same difference, in every thing, between system and practice.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 107 I could form no system to explain the phenomenon.
14.
a. An organized scheme or plan of action, esp. one of a complex or comprehensive kind; an orderly or regular method of procedure, government, administration, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan
redeeOE
devicec1290
casta1300
went1303
ordinancec1385
intentc1386
imaginationa1393
drifta1535
draught1535
forecast1535
platform1547
ground-plat?a1560
table1560
convoy1565
design1565
plat1574
ground-plota1586
plot1587
reach1587
theory1593
game1595
projectment1611
projecting1616
navation1628
approach1633
view1634
plan1635
systema1648
sophism1657
manage1667
brouillon1678
speculationa1684
sketch1697
to take measures1698
method1704
scheme1704
lines1760
outline1760
measure1767
restorative1821
ground plan1834
strategy1834
programme1837
ticket1842
project1849
outline plan1850
layout1867
draft1879
dart1882
lurk1916
schema1939
lick1955
the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > methodicalness > a methodical procedure
systema1648
a1648 J. Godbolt Rep. Certain Cases Courts of Rec. Westm. (1652) 261 In a Judicial stipulation four things are considerable: 1. The Judicial Sistem; [etc.]
1663 J. Heath Flagellum (1672) 17 That there might no vice be wanting to make his Life a systeme of Iniquity.
1734 in Hist. MSS Comm.: Rep. MSS Earl of Eglinton (1885) 251 in Parl. Papers 1884–5 (C. 4575) XLIV. 1 The generous system, that his Maty has always pursued.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. viii. 55 What system of government is this?
1794 J. Lettice Lett. Tour Scotl. v. 82 The ordinary system of business at Glasgow.
1865 Sat. Rev. 21 Jan. 87/1 The Camorra is a system of organized extortion, which has survived the Bourbon rule.
1898 W. S. Seton-Karr Marquess Cornwallis v. 118 We had accomplished a great work in settling the land revenue system of Bengal on an intelligible basis.
1920 H. J. Laski Polit. Thought in Eng. i. 13 England surely had some right to be contented when her political system was compared with the governments of France and Germany.
1925 A. Loos Gentlemen prefer Blondes i. 31 This afternoon a lady friend of his is going to bring me a new system she thought up of how to learn French.
1962 E. Roosevelt Autobiogr. III. xxxiv. 279 It did not seem impossible for our type of political philosophy to live and co-operate with the system that appeared to be developing in Yugoslavia.
1992 Door Apr. 3/6 Christians should work in the capitalist system fully aware that it is both congruous and hostile to Christian values.
2012 New Yorker 8 Oct. 93/1 His stars would be made, not born, according to a sophisticated system of artistic development.
b. A method or scheme of classification or measurement.gravitational system, International System: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > [noun] > quality of being systematic > systematic arrangement > a system or scheme > formal or established
dispensation1633
system1747
format1955
1747 Philos. Trans. Abridged 1732–44 (Royal Soc.) 9 ii. v. 764 In Royen's System, to the Palmæ spatha bifida.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Pref. iii. Dr. Linnæus; whose Labors..and whose Invention of the Sexual System in particular are well known.
1797 Monthly Mag. 3 209/1 The French republic will have immortalized the first years of its establishment, by the adoption of a Metrical System.
1849 J. H. Balfour Man. Bot. §719 A natural system endeavours to bring together plants which are allied in all essential points of structure.
1864 Act 27 & 28 Vict. c. 117 An Act to render permissive the Use of the Metric System of Weights and Measures.
1879 Libr. Jrnl. 4 139 The books on the shelves were numbered and arranged according to the ‘Dewey system’.
1980 S. J. Gould Panda's Thumb xxi. 222 Most popular these days is a system of five kingdoms: plants, animals, fungi, protists..and the prokaryotic monerans.
2010 J. Sherman Melvil Dewey i. 8 This system would classify a wide range of subjects and also allow for the addition of new subjects.
c. A method devised by a gambler for determining the placing of bets.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > [noun] > types of betting > specific method of placing bets
system1792
Labouchere1886
1792 C. Pigott Jockey Club: Pt. 1 (ed. 4) 99 He follows the turf, not as an amusement, but as a lucrative profession..betting on the system of calculation, independent of chances, and gaining all possible information from the grooms.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. xxvi. 262 I won a good bit of money there, and intend to win a good bit more... I've got a system. I'll make his fortune.
1896 Badminton Mag. Dec. 708 Straight bets over single events are losing their popularity in favour of ‘systems’. A system is a kind of patent safety insurance policy.
1908 G. K. Chesterton All Things Considered 47 His vanity..remains a mere mistake of fact, like that of a man who..thinks he has an infallible system for Monte Carlo.
1965 J. Symons Belting Inheritance iii. 54 He had all sorts of bright ideas that were going to make a fortune. One was..a racing system, something to do with backing second favourites.
2006 D. G. Schwartz Roll Bones xvii. 405 He was no armchair strategist. Backed by investors, he took $10,000 to Las Vegas and put his system into action.
d. With the.
(a) The prevailing political, economic, or social order, esp. regarded as oppressive or stifling; the Establishment; any impersonal, restrictive organization. Frequently with capital initial.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > [noun]
ordinance?a1400
governance1402
policy?a1439
regimentc1475
frame1529
statea1538
government1553
estate1559
platform1587
polity1590
governail1598
regimen1663
constitution1735
regime1792
system1806
party government1834
society > society and the community > customs, values, and civilization > [noun] > social structure or system > type of structure or system
system1806
white supremacy1824
communitarianism1840
familism1859
the Establishment1955
global village1959
megamachine1967
1806 C. Wilmot Let. 23 Mar. in M. Wilmot & C. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) ii. 223 Dozens of Slaves are waiting..to greet the Princess... Her Lenity makes their Lot better perhaps than that of others, but that's saying very little for the System.
1855 Mechanics' Mag. 63 542 I have not heard anything of it from that day to this, and must therefore infer that his Lordship was instigated by the ‘system’.
1911 H. Walpole Mr. Perrin & Mr. Traill ix. 178 She suddenly..had a revelation..that it wasn't really any one's fault at all—that it was the system, the place, the tightness and closeness and helplessness that did for everybody.
1921 Chicago Tribune 3 Oct. b3/2 It's just like any other business, and you can't get far unless you..are wise to the system.
1973 Ottawa Jrnl. 18 May 16/1 It is the deeply moving, contemporary story of a young man who wouldn't surrender to the System..and the girl who always stood beside him.
2007 N. Rosen How to live Off-grid i. 12 I want to drop in and out of ‘the system’, partly for ethical reasons, but also because I need the mental space.
(b) Australian History. In the 19th cent.: the transportation of convicts from the United Kingdom to Australia.
ΚΠ
1851 Spectator 1 Feb. 109/1 Lord Grey..continues to write letters to Sir William Denison on the sending of convicts to Van Diemen's Land, just as if the system were eternal.
1874 M. Clarke His Nat. Life (1875) III. iv. vii. 194 ‘You have a future to live for, man.’ ‘I hope not,’ said the victim of the ‘system’.
1934 B. Penton Landtakers (1935) i. v. 42 Joe's..not the same as other lags... The System soon breaks them up, but Joe it just sets on fire and leaves him as hard as brick.
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. ii. 43 The prison at Fremantle was the establishment, a term which is fit to rank with the System—as transportation in general and the maltreatment of prisoners in particular became known—as notable examples of understatement.
2011 S. Lawrence & P. Davies Archaeol. Austral. since 1788 Uncovered ii. 22 Newly arrived convicts entered in the middle of the system.
15. As a mass noun. Orderly arrangement or method; systematic form or order.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > [noun] > quality of being systematic > systematic arrangement
ordination?a1425
structure1587
syntax1605
system1699
organism1701
classification1767
organization1790
systematization1838
1699 T. Baker Refl. Learning vi. 68 Aristotle is more noted for his order, in bringing Morality into Systeme,..and distinguishing vertues into their several kinds, which had not been handled Systematically before.
1746 Fool (1748) II. 47 It [sc. government] consists of too many detach'd Parts to be easily reduced into System.
1770 E. Burke Thoughts Present Discontents 16 All which had been done..was the effect not of humour, but of system.
1822 W. Irving Bracebridge Hall iii. 28 The work of the house is performed as if by magic, but it is the magic of system.
1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Dec. 370/1 A large farm poorly managed..is productive of more losses and embarrassments, than a smaller farm.., managed with system and economy.
1876 G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay II. xv. 474 Macaulay, even during his hours of leisure, began to read on system.
1926 W. Lewis Art of being Ruled ii. viii. 102 A huge and wasteful transport system results from this barbarous lack of system.
1992 J. M. Young tr. I. Kant Lect. on Logic 287 A cognition that is produced methodically, but without system, is rhapsodic.
16. A pad formerly worn by women and used to raise up the hair, a roll (roll n.1 9a). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > accessories worn in the hair > [noun] > pad or cushion
roll1532
cock-up1692
cushion1774
system1778
toque1817
rat1863
mouse1866
1778 Heroic Epist. from Kitty Cut-a-dash to Oroonoko 23 Her wrathful talons tear, And strew the ground with system, cap, and hair.
1789 Morning Herald 10 Mar. (advt.) Vickery's Inimitable System, or Natural Head-dress for the Ladies.
1817 M. Edgeworth Harrington & Ormond I. xiii. 315 A sort of triangular cushion, or edifice of horse hair..called I believe a toque or a system, was fastened on the female head..and upon and over this system the hair was erected, and crisped, and frizzed.
1833 Lady Morgan Manor Sackville ii, in Dramatic Scenes I. 100 I do think the hair, drawn up over that roll,—the system, as dear old Mother Quigley calls it,—is most becoming.
Phrases
P1. out of one's system (a) removed from one's body or vital functions; (b) no longer preoccupying or obsessing the mind, esp. as a result of being indulged to the point of satiety. Cf. sense 5b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > remove or displace [verb (transitive)] > get or be rid of > specifically a thing > a preoccupation
out of one's system1866
1866 Atlantic Monthly Aug. 151/1 The diphtheria itself was quite out of her system.
1888 E. M. Aveling tr. Enemy of Society iv, in H. Ellis Pillars of Society 285 You haven't work'd the vulgarity out of your system, and fought your way up to spiritual distinction.
1908 R. Bagot Anthony Cuthbert xxiii. 300 It is extraordinary how long it takes to get those malarial fevers out of the system.
1911 G. Stratton-Porter Harvester xviii. 430 Let me finish... Let me get this out of my system.
1925 Lima (Ohio) News 1 Dec. 7/4 Thoxine..stops fever, chilliness and achiness, and quickly drives it all out of the system.
1970 New Yorker 17 Oct. 39/1 By the time I put a couple of drinks under my belt, I worked the whole thing out of my system.
2010 Mizz 18 Mar. 11/1 After a quarrel with my boyfriend, I texted my friend to get it out of my system—calling him every name under the sun.
P2. slang. System D (also Systeme D, Système D): a way (usually unscrupulous) of getting or keeping out of trouble, bluff. [After French système D (a1918; < système system n. + the initial letter of either débrouille ‘resourcefulness’ or of its etymon débrouiller (reflexive) ‘to manage (to do something), to sort (something) out’). In forms systeme D, système D after the French form.]
ΚΠ
1918 H. Corey in Boston Globe 27 Mar. 9/1 ‘System D’ is coming into play in the United States Army... ‘System D’ is a bit of French slang. It means to unmix, to disentangle, to go straight through... It comes from the initial letter of the word ‘débrouiller’.
1947 M. Laski in Vogue Oct. 63/1 That method called by the French System D, the phony medical certificate, the faked-up business journey.
1973 ‘Trevanian’ Loo Sanction 78 MI-6..muddled their way through the Second World War, relying largely on the French organizational concept, ‘système D’.
2006 Independent 9 Oct. 28/3 In other words, Lily is trying to use personal connections to circumvent the rules. The French call this ‘Systeme D’.
P3. Originally U.S. all systems (are) go: everything functioning correctly, ready to proceed; everything fully operational. Chiefly figurative.
ΚΠ
1961 N.Y. Times 6 May 10 10:36—Shepard reported ‘all systems go’.
1961 Life 19 May 28/2 I made my last radio transmission before the booster engine cut off: ‘All systems are GO.’
1977 Listener 7 Apr. 450/1 It was sportsfest time again for the BBC last week—all systems go.
2007 E. J. Kendrick Confessions of Rookie Cheerleader iv. lx. 225 So it looked like all systems were go and operation ‘Go Get Your Man’ was on course for phase three.
Compounds
C1. attributive.
a. Medicine. Designating a disease or pathological process that affects a specific tract of nerve fibres; cf. systemic adj. 1c.
ΚΠ
1879 Med. Times & Gaz. 13 Dec. 659/2 Not rarely this ‘disseminated’ or ‘insular’ sclerosis, in one region, is combined with a system-degeneration in another.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VI. 494 The chief indication of a system disease of the neuron is its intrinsic nervous origin.
1913 C. R. Ball tr. M. Nonne Syphilis & Nerv. Syst. x. 218 The peripheral sclerosis can produce ascending and descending degeneration and thus resemble system disease.
2004 W. G. Bradley et al. Neurol. in Clin. Pract. (ed. 4) I. 8/1 Degeneration of the corticospinal tracts..is the hallmark of the system degeneration termed motor neuron disease.
b. Chiefly in sense 3b, as system library, system technology, etc. Also system contradiction, system name.
ΚΠ
1887 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 134 205 It is suggested therefore that..the new system name Agnotozoic, first proposed by Professor T. C. Chamberlin, be used.
1917 Geol. Mag. New Ser. 4 85 These rather uncomfortable system-names are adopted from Mr. E. O. Ulrich.
1928 Calif. Law Rev. 16 117 The system efficiency is both physical and economic.
1939 Energy Resources & National Policy (U.S. National Resources Comm.) 28 Federal policy on development of water power should embrace the building or the acquirement of steam plants in connection with any hydro development needing steam-driven capacity for the best balance of system capacity.
1962 J. Riordan Stochastic Service Syst. iv. 70 As noted previously, this is a system with limited waiting capacity. If the waiting capacity is K − 1, the system capacity is K.
1962 E. Godfrey Retail Selling & Organization xi. 120 Many firms now recognize that system training needs to be interspersed with periods of practical selling.
1973 C. W. Gear Introd. Computer Sci. iv. 156 These built-in subroutines..form part of what is called the system library.
1976 Time 20 Dec. , facing p. 2 (advt.) This new aid for a communication-saturated world is one more example of Toshiba's sophisticated system technology, which brings together technology from many different fields to solve complex problems of today.
1977 A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory ii. 127 By ‘system contradiction’ I mean a disjunction between two or more ‘principles of organization’ or ‘structural principles’ which govern the connections between social systems within a larger collectivity.
1978 J. McNeil Consultant ix. 108 The details of his past career..appeared to have involved Webb in the study of system efficiency.
2002 A. C. Helton Price of Indifference v. 136 Another test looms with the efforts to strengthen UN system capacities relating to work on behalf of internal exiles around the world.
2006 J. O. Grady Syst. Requirements Anal. iii. 143/1 The system name will generally be given by the customer.
c. With first element in plural form. Chiefly in sense 3b, as systems approach, systems manager, systems theory, etc. Cf. also Compounds 3b.
ΚΠ
1952 N.Y. Certified Public Accountant Oct. 604/2 Principles for acquiring specialized knowledge and experience in the systems field.
1952 N.Y. Certified Public Accountant Oct. 605/2 You can rely on a systems consultant whose business it is to devote more time..than you..can afford to give.
1959 Economist 11 Apr. 139/1 The American department is relying increasingly on prime contractors (called ‘systems managers’) to combine the works of many sub-contractors.
1967 Economist 28 Jan. 328/3 Airlines in general are shifting toward a ‘systems concept’ which takes charge of the traveller from door to door, not simply between departure and arrival lounges.
1968 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 23 Nov. 32/3 General Motors and Ford can use a ‘systems’ approach to their global investments.
1969 Times 30 Apr. 23/4 (advt.) In advanced technology. Systems evaluation engineers. Systems trials engineer. Systems test engineers... We require a number of engineers experienced in the assessment, evaluation and/or trials of complex defence weapon systems.
1970 T. Lupton Managem. & Social Sci. (ed. 2) iii. 80 An example of a practical application of a systems theory of organization.
1975 Modeling & Simulation 6 795 (heading) Are systems scientists not scientists?
1977 A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory ii. 115 Von Bertalanffy counterposes the ‘mechanistic’ views characteristic of nineteenth-century physical science with the twentieth-century perspective of systems theory.
1978 Times 2 Oct. 6/8 A new industry, or sub-industry, has emerged, formed on ‘systems houses’ which buy in the micro components and other hardware, write the software, and design and market the complete systems.
1986 A. Ravetz Govt. of Space iii. 62 Lastly, the systems approach liberated planners from the tight, blueprint approach of town planning, from which they were in retreat at this time.
2000 M. Albo Hornito 75 Rita, the systems manager (whatever that is),..properly wearing sneakers on Casual Friday and blow-drying her hair into a long, tinted hairspray fluff.
C2. Objective with agent nouns and participles, chiefly in sense 13 or 14.
system destroyer n.
ΚΠ
1856 F. D. Huntington Serm. for People (ed. 3) xxii. 359 The Church for the present may have statement and counter-statement, indoctrination and recantation, systems and system-destroyers, kingdom against kingdom..only because the hour of unity is not yet.
1905 J. Brierley Eternal Relig. vi. 48 The system-maker is by an equal necessity the system-destroyer.
1997 M. McCauley Who's Who in Russia since 1900 19/1 Andropov made a distinction between those whom he judged to be ‘within system’ reformers and those whom he regarded as ‘system destroyers’.
system maker n.
ΚΠ
1662 F. Philipps Reforming Registry vi. 79 If these new Judicatories shall as the Systeme-makers had for the setting up of others, not long ago contrived, be made up of several parts or pieces.
1749 D. Hartley Observ. Man Pref. p vi I think,..that I cannot be called a System-maker, since I did not first form a System, and then suit the Facts to it.
1883 Cent. Mag. Aug. 634/1 A book that eschews the method of the system-makers and sets forth Christianity in terms of life.
2011 New Yorker 12 Sept. 41/1 Like all big system-makers, Spengler is most interesting when he is least systematic, in the cracks in his system.
system-making n.
ΚΠ
1697 J. Arbuthnot Exam. Dr. Woodward's Acct. Deluge 62 I cannot forbear to wish that People were..more cautious in System-making.
1884 Cent. Mag. 27 915 There were many independent centers of movement and system-making.
2004 B. R. Clark in J. C. Alexander et al. Self, Social Struct. & Beliefs ix. 169 ‘Nonsystem’ dynamics triumph over the system-making of planners and governments.
system monger n.
ΚΠ
1734 London Mag. Nov. 588/2 All who are not System-Mongers.
1896 Badminton Mag. Dec. 711 The system-monger is apt to derive encouragement from the fact that long runs on a colour are rare, the longest known at Monte Carlo being a series of 28 reds.
1991 D. L. Hall in E. Deutsch Culture & Modernity 55 Seeing Hegel as the system monger who tried to say it all, once and for all.
system-mongering adj. and n.
ΚΠ
?1825 S. A. Mackey Reply on Chronology 12 Hearing some part of this system-mongering book explained, he addressed himself to me, and said, he hoped he might be allowed the honor of purchasing a copy of the author.
1940 Mind 49 120 Hegel was wrong in his formal system-mongering which reflects the influence upon his thought of Christian theology.
1981 Mod. Philol. 79 192 He regarded skepticism as the last infirmity of a system-mongering mind.
2010 Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) (Nexis) 12 Dec. He regarded with utter disdain the system-mongering that was current at the time.
system-writer n. now rare
ΚΠ
1705 J. Dunton Life & Errors 60 Here 'tis necessary to make a very cautious Choice, there's such a variety of System-Writers.
1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks III. Misc. iii. ii. 187 A formal and profess'd Philosopher, a System-Writer.
1834 T. Eden Outl. New Syst. Philos. 251 The whole of the system is founded on some great foundation..too great to be accumulated by any one system writer.
1923 Science 27 July 70/1 Other system-writers, almost without exception, recognize the validity of the physical ‘cause-and-effect’ relation in the realm of mental phenomena.
C3.
a. With first element in singular form.
system administrator n. a person who manages the operation of a system; esp. one who administers and maintains a computer system, network, etc., and has special privileges needed for this (cf. sysadmin n.).
ΚΠ
1952 Sewage & Industr. Wastes 24 1165/2 Hardly a sewer system exists where storm flow has been completely eliminated..despite constant vigilance on the part of system administrators.
1989 DesignCenter ii. 17/2 Distribution is controlled by the system administrators of the networked machines and is propagated by category.
2004 R. Dew & P. Pape No Backup xxvii. 216 Hanssen's attempt to gain system administrator privileges..was a hacker crime.
system analysis n. an analysis of a system; (in later use) = systems analysis n. at Compounds 3b.
ΚΠ
1922 Electr. World 17 June 1208/1 Having the system analysis, an intelligent study of the protective devices and systems now available will indicate the types of installations to be made.
1982 Computerworld 28 June 39/4 Decision tables and trees and structured English are the common instruments for system analysis.
2003 M. Crow Computational Methods Electric Power Syst. i. 1 Computers offer the only truly viable means for system analysis.
system builder n. (a) a person who builds or constructs a system (sense 13) of any kind; (b) Architecture a person who uses system building as a method of construction.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > builder > [noun] > other general builders
under-builder1841
pile-builder1869
system builder1965
1760 J. Beattie Hares in Orig. Poems & Transl. 60 So fares the system-builder sage, Who..At last on some foundation-dream Has rear'd aloft his goodly scheme.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. iv. iv. 203 This is the Sieyes who shall be System-builder, Constitution-builder General; and build Constitutions..which shall all unfortunately fall before he get the scaffolding away.
1920 W. R. Sorley Hist. Eng. Philos. xiii. 300 The English philosophers were not great system-builders.
1965 Times 4 Dec. 5/7 If you want to give the system-builder a fair chance of developing his system you have got to have continuous production for a number of years.
1999 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 6 May 41/1 Karl Popper's bitter The Open Society and Its Enemies , which casts him [sc. Plato] as a villain, the precursor of other wicked system-builders.
2004 Personal Computer World Jan. 18/2 System builders have to allow for the Thermal Design Power (TDP) of components, which equals the wattage each uses when running flat out.
system building n. (a) systematic thought; the process of building an intellectual system (sense 13); (b) a method of construction using standardized prefabricated components (see sense 3c(c)).
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > [noun] > manner of construction > specific
post and pan1517
superedification1610
superstructing1654
trabeation1831
post and petrail1867
post and tan1890
skeleton construction1891
flat-slab construction1906
unit construction1909
prefabrication1932
site assembly1941
sandwich construction1944
post and panel1954
prefabbing1954
post and beam1958
jettying1963
system building1964
biotecture1966
timber-framing1967
post and plaster1997
Passivhaus1998
1754 Monthly Rev. Aug. 155 This truly speculative gentleman has already given the public specimens of his capacity for system-building, in his treatises of electricity and magnetism.
1911 J. Drummond Paul vi. 79 There is no attempt at system-building.
1964 R. M. E. Diamant Industrialised Building I. p. viii System building is particularly well suited to the rapid erection of tall, low~cost blocks of flats.
2000 E. T. Long 20th-Century Western Philos. Relig. I. xv. 319 System-building forgets that any philosophy worthy of its name should begin with an investigation of our condition as existing and thinking beings.
2007 R. Basri Syst. Building & Aesthetic Preference 4 System building is cheaper and faster than traditional construction, especially in the case of multi-unit dwellings.
system-built adj. constructed using standardized prefabricated components (see sense 3c(c)).
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > building of specific construction > [adjective]
wandedc1593
brick-built1596
rock-built1596
mud-walled1607
sedgy1624
sodden1639
nogged1688
frame1760
logged1784
stucco1786
weatherboarded1794
piled1795
thick-walled1820
clapboarded1835
board-built1837
pebble-dashed1839
puncheoned1843
timber-framed1843
betimbered1847
pile-built1851
massy1855
bamboo-walled1858
portable1860
half-timber1874
stone-faced1874
Red River frame1879
ashlared1881
granolithic1881
brick-end1883
converted1888
steel frame1898
board-and-bat1902
traviated1902
steel-framed1906
prefabricated1921
prefab1937
multiwall1940
pre-engineered1955
curtain-walled1959
pre-fabbed1959
timber-frame1967
system-built1968
flat-pack1982
1968 Guardian 13 Nov. 1/4 The Minister of Housing..made strenuous efforts to halt the collapse of confidence in system-built blocks.
1973 Archit. Assoc. Q. 5 iv. 8/2 Later models [of bungalow] were supplied with what would appear to be system-built furniture.
2008 D. Marshall et al. Understanding Housing Defects xv. 282 System-built housing was undertaken by a number of local authorities throughout the UK.
system call n. Computing a request by a program for a service provided by the operating system.
ΚΠ
1970 AFIPS Conf. Proc. 36 591/2 In most hosts, the NCP will be part of the executive, so that processes will use system calls to communicate with it.
1984 Austral. Personal Computer Apr. 30/2 The 64k Macintosh supports over 500 system calls.
2013 R. Love Linux Syst. Programming (ed. 2) xi. 378 Linux implements this algorithm with the adjtmex() system call.
system design n. the process of designing a system or systems, esp. (in later use) a computer system; a design so produced.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > [noun] > systems design or analysis
system design1923
systems analysis1950
1923 Proc. IRE 11 193 The program involved extensive development work..: first, the determination of the system-design.
1960 R. H. Gregory & R. L. Van Horn Automatic Data-processing Syst. xi. 396 System design is discussed here in terms of fact finding, developing specifications, meeting specifications, and matching equipment with the system.
2008 W. Wolf Computers as Components (ed. 2) iii. 106 System design must take into account the worst-case combinations of interrupts that can occur.
system designer n. a person who designs systems, esp. computer systems; the designer of a particular system.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software > designer
system designer1919
systems designer1926
system programmer1958
systems programmer1959
software engineer1962
1919 Electr. Jrnl 16 313/2 The growing importance of the knowledge of network characteristics to the system designer and operator.
1987 IEEE Spectrum 24 40/1 Some processor-chip manufacturers are..building their products around cache memories, making the system designer's job simpler.
2012 K. M. Gharaibeh Nonlinear Distortion Wireless Syst. i. 1 A fundamental design concern for system designers of wireless communication systems is modeling distortion.
system disk n. Computing the disk from which a computer's operating system is run.
ΚΠ
1965 Proc. AFIPS Conf. 26 55/2 (caption) The system treats the package as one single entity normally residing on the system disk.
1986 A. Mabbett Getting Started with Wordstar viii. 192 Now would be the time to exchange the system disk in drive A for the dictionary disk.
2011 Guardian Unlimited (Nexis) 6 Oct. How to use a solid state disk (SSD) as the system disk on a Windows 7 computer.
system file n. Computing a file that is required for a system to run; a file which forms part of an operating system.In quot. 1962: a file available to all users of an information system.
ΚΠ
1962 Public Admin. Rev. 22 149/2 The primary criterion for placing data within the System files would be that a particular item of information is of interest to some agency other than the one which originally collects it.
1967 N. S. M. Cox & M. W. Grose Organization Bibliogr. Rec. by Computer iv. 87 The Load which actually updates the system files.
1991 Personal Computer World Feb. 122/1 When the copy was made the system files weren't transferred, so I was unable to boot up.
2009 Guardian (Nexis) 16 July (Technology section) 5 You should never delete anything that's included as part of Windows. This is why Microsoft has taken to hiding system files.
system integration n. the integration of two or more social or technological systems.
ΚΠ
1952 T. Parsons Social Syst. 7 The moment even the most elementary system-level is brought under consideration a component of ‘system integration’ must enter in.
1977 A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory ii. 123 While the notion of function is redundant to the theory of structuration, that of ‘social integration’ can still be regarded as a basic one—together with the further one of ‘system integration’.
1980 N. Abercrombie et al. Dominant Ideol. Thesis ii. 48 System integration is defined in terms of the processes whereby value-orientation patterns are institutionalised at the social level via the mechanism of social roles with the effect of organising the behaviour of adult members of society.
1994 Sci. Amer. Sept. 74/3 In the technical lingo, connecting programs in this way is often called system integration.
system-integrative adj. tending towards system integration.
ΚΠ
1953 T. Parsons et al. Working Papers in Theory of Action 208 The instrumental and the system-integrative norms, which very closely characterize what..have been thought of as polar types of institutional structure.
system operator n. a person who controls or monitors the operation of complex systems; spec. a person who manages an electronic bulletin board (cf. sysop n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > network > [noun] > bulletin board > manager of
system operator1903
sysop1983
1903 Electr. World & Engineer 16 May 829/1 This distribution is regulated by the system operator at the station, who instructs each sub-station how to subdivide the loads among the rotaries.
1988 Govt. Computer News (U.S.) 19 Feb. 24/4 Bulletin board systems require thoughtful design and tending. The system operator..needs to clear out old entries, run backups, maintain user identification [etc.].
2003 F. Woolf Global Transmission Expansion iii. 78 A system operator may be reluctant to give releases and clearances for maintenance in an active market.
system program n. Computing a low-level program that controls the operations of a computer system, as an operating system, device driver, or compiler; contrasted with application program n. at application n. Compounds 2a.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software
supervisor1956
system program1956
software1958
system1958
systems program1960
operating system1961
monitor1962
system software1962
open system1981
1956 Proc. 11th Assoc. Computing Machinery National Meeting 77 The system program may require alteration to permit the data collection.
1980 B. C. Wonsiewicz Computer Automation of Materials Testing 162 Basic system programs such as those needed for start-up and memory initialization.
2011 S.-K. Chin & S. B. Older Access Control, Security, & Trust xii. 278 Users may use production code and system programs, and they may modify production data.
system programmer n. Computing a computer programmer who designs or writes system programs.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software > designer
system designer1919
systems designer1926
system programmer1958
systems programmer1959
software engineer1962
1958 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery 1 16 System programmers writing in uncol can use an existing translator to produce their ML system programs.
1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing v. 92 Nowadays, only some very specialized ‘system programmers’ write programs in machine code.
2005 D. Flanagan Java in Nutshell (ed. 5) vi. 304 The system programmer carries a tremendous security burden.
system programming n. Computing = systems programming n. at Compounds 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [adjective] > system or utility program
interpretive1951
system programming1958
monitor1962
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software > designing of
system programming1958
software engineering1966
1958 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery 1 12 A minimum of ‘system programming’ should be required to produce the system initially.
1987 InfoWorld 23 Nov. 91/2 (advt.) Systems programming or software development experience is essential.
2013 R. Love Linux Syst. Programming (ed. 2) i. 2 The umbrella of system programming often includes kernel development, or at least device driver writing.
system software n. Computing system programs collectively.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software
supervisor1956
system program1956
software1958
system1958
systems program1960
operating system1961
monitor1962
system software1962
open system1981
1962 Syst. Devel. & Managem.: Hearings before Govt. Operations Comm. (U.S. House of Representatives, 87th Congr., 2nd Sess.) iii. 995 We are providing support in the design of the system ‘software’ for major command and control systems.
1991 Macworld Sept. 28/2 As part of system software, QuickTime will come with every new Macintosh.
2004 H. Kunzru Transmission (2005) 28 An innocuous-looking subdirectory..was full of old log files or other uninteresting artefacts of his system software.
system-structure adj. Linguistics designating a theoretical approach to grammar developed by the British linguist J. R. Firth in the 1950s in which representations of paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations are regarded as complementary and of equal importance.
ΚΠ
1962 P. Strevens in Eng. Leaflet Midwinter 37 The three major modern linguistic theories (i.e. phoneme-morpheme grammar, transformative-generative grammar, and system-structure grammar).
1982 J. P. Paillet et al. Approaches to Syntax vi. 68 Firth's system/structure theory, further elaborated by Halliday.., gives a primacy to system (i.e. contrastive choices) over structure (i.e. in this view roughly distributional aspects of the manifestation of the choices).
2006 A. Caffarel Systemic Functional Gram. of French i. 4 It has a systemic orientation (developed out of Firth's system-structure theory)—grammar is modelled systematically as a resource in construing meaning in wording.
system tray n. Computing an area of the taskbar in Windows operating systems in which icons for some background applications, system options, and notifications are displayed, typically situated adjacent to the date and time.
ΚΠ
1995 PC Mag 24 Oct. 104/2 Resource Meter..installs as an icon on your System Tray.
2002 D. A. Karp et al. Windows XP in Nutshell (rev. ed.) iii. 58 The System Tray is available to any application that chooses to use—or misuse—it.
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 22 Jan. b1/1 A tiny flag icon appears on your system tray to let you know that new nags are waiting there.
system-wide adv. and adj. (a) adv. throughout a system; (b) adj. of, relating to, or extending throughout a system; affecting or reaching the whole of a system.
ΚΠ
1902 New Outlook 6 Dec. 830 Raise the ban That barred him from extending system-wide His universal sway.
1914 Railway Age Gaz. 7 Aug. 247/1 Others attending the meeting are supposed to keep on the alert between meetings and bring up any subjects that would be likely to prove of system-wide interest.
2007 Daily Jrnl. of Commerce (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 30 May The dollars are spread system-wide but the additional money would almost certainly boost PSU's safety and code compliance work.
2010 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) Nov. 40/2 Regional operators in the Eastern Interconnection unveiled a plan in 2009 for a systemwide upgrade.
b. With first element in plural form.
systems administrator n. Computing = system administrator n. at Compounds 3a.
ΚΠ
1957 Office Managem. Aug. 31/1 Here's a simple four-point program by which to evaluate competing office machines..by Walter S. Athearn, Systems Administrator, Aeronautical Division, Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.
1993 SunExpert Jan. 38 Backup is valued only when primary storage fails and panic-stricken eyes turn tearfully to the systems administrator.
2001 J. Deaver Blue Nowhere iii. xxiii. 254 Send a certain type of e-mail to the root user—the systems administrator—that would sometimes let the sender seize control of the computer.
systems analysis n. the analysis of complex processes or operations in order to improve their efficiency, typically by the introduction of a computer system.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > [noun] > systems design or analysis
system design1923
systems analysis1950
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [noun] > analysis > of systems
systems analysis1950
1950 H. Goldhamer (title) Human factors in systems analysis.
1977 Time 4 Apr. 50/1 Systems analysis, which is really good common sense on a grand scale, combines the knowledge of mathematical probabilities with the aim of dealing with problems in their entirety rather than just piecemeal.
2013 Sentinel (Stoke-on-Trent) (Nexis) 25 Apr. 8 If hospitals were factories a systems analysis team would have studied and resolved the problem years ago.
systems analyst n. a person who conducts systems analyses.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > [noun] > systems design or analysis > analyst
systems analyst1939
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > close examination, scrutiny > [noun] > analysis > of systems > person engaged in
systems analyst1939
1939 Flying Mag. June 58 Hanson now is ‘systems analyst’ for the Burbank plant. Nothing happens at Lockheed that his keen eye does not first scan.
1982 M. Duke Flashpoint xxvii. 205 From computer programmer to systems analyst. Quite an achievement.
2004 T. Guest My Life in Orange (2005) v. 73 My father had flown off to San Francisco to work as a systems analyst in a start-up software company.
systems design n. = system design n. at Compounds 3a.
ΚΠ
1948 Accounting Rev. 23 378/1 (table) Systems design—planning and research.
1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts Feb. 147/1 The advent of micro-electronics and the growth in the field described nowadays as systems design.
2007 Observer 25 Nov. (Business & Media section) 8/2 Fail-safeing—part of any good systems design.
systems designer n. = system designer n. at Compounds 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software > designer
system designer1919
systems designer1926
system programmer1958
systems programmer1959
software engineer1962
1926 Bell Lab. Rec. Apr. 68/2 They offer to the systems designer new and attractive opportunities for their utilization.
1980 J. McNeil Spy Game i. 22 You're the best systems designer in his Division.
2009 Adv. Packaging Jan. 26/3 Thermal simulation provides a data set that can then be used by systems designers.
systems engineer n. a person who works in systems engineering.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > people who study work or technology > [noun]
technologist1815
technographer1900
human engineer1916
job analyst1917
methods engineer1939
systems engineer1940
cyberneticist1949
cybernetician1950
human factors engineer1959
nanotechnologist1986
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > engineer > [noun] > other types
millwright1387
field engineer1758
chemical engineer1838
mechanical engineer1840
industrial engineer1849
structural engineer1867
civil1873
sanitary engineer1873
radio engineer1910
stress analyst1916
ack emma1917
stressman1919
roboticist1940
systems engineer1940
environmental engineer1947
terotechnologist1970
knowledge engineer1981
1940 Princeton Alumni Weekly 15 Mar. 544/1 He is moving to Pittsburgh on February 15 to become a salesman, or ‘systems engineer’, with the Gilman Fanfold Corp.
1955 Business Week 15 Jan. 164/3 Nowadays, the systems engineer starts a project by wrestling with the abstruse questions of what elements in the system need accurate measurement, which ones are important to control.
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVII. 972/1 The first task of the systems engineer is to develop as clear a formulation of objectives as possible.
2002 V. Stavridou in U. Hashagen et al. Hist. Computing iii. 130 We decided it was time to bring in the Systems Engineer (or Architect as we would call him today)—the only person as it turns out who fully understood the system and its context.
systems engineering n. (a) the investigation of complex, man-made systems in relation to the apparatus that is or might be involved in them; (b) the design and installation of computer systems.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > engineering > [noun] > branches of
waterwork?a1560
civil engineeringc1770
water engineering1787
millwrighting1821
engineering science1826
hydraulic engineering1835
river engineering1842
structural engineering1859
industrial engineering1860
chemical engineering1861
sanitary engineering1868
biological engineering1898
control engineering1914
radio engineering1915
environmental engineering1946
systems engineering1946
bioengineering1950
value engineering1959
biomedical engineering1961
geoengineering1962
macro-engineering1964
microengineering1964
terotechnology1970
hydroengineering1971
civil1975
mechatronics1976
knowledge engineering1977
1946 Jrnl. Marketing 10 286/2 Our successful salesman today is of the systems engineering type who not only knows our products, but has specific knowledge of different lines of business so that he can make intelligent applications of our product.
1946 Flying Aug. 86/1 With the increasing use of electronic devices for the navigation and control of aircraft, A.R.C. has long encouraged the ‘Systems Engineering’ of these devices into the basic design of aircraft.
1952 W. H. Martin in Proc. 5th Ann. Conf. Admin. of Res. 1951 8/1 In our organization [sc. Bell Telephone Laboratories] extensive use is made of an analytical procedure which we call Systems Engineering.
1962 A. Battersby Guide to Stock Control i. 9 Two types of specialists concern themselves with the study of these communications networks: we may say broadly that the Organization and Methods experts are responsible for the general layout of the network, whereas the accountants are concerned with the messages which flow along them. The two functions are combined in the new specialism called Systems Engineering.
1973 B. S. Gottfried & J. Weisman Introd. Optimization Theory i. 5 The techniques of systems engineering (of which optimization techniques constitute an important subclass) are applicable to a very wide variety of physical problems.
2002 D. Goleman et al. Business: Ultimate Resource 1346/3 Systems engineering can be viewed as a continuous cycle, aimed at developing alternative strategies for effective systems utilisation. It is concerned with the definition, planning, and deployment of future systems.
systems operator n. a person who controls or monitors the operation of complex systems, esp. aircraft.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > [noun] > operator of electronic systems
systems operator1956
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > non-manual worker > businessman > [noun] > director > type of
co-director1694
company director1739
managing director1834
worker director1913
outside director1941
systems operator1956
1956 Amer. Statistician 10 23/3 Lois C. Lawrence's new position is that of Research Psychologist, Systems Operator Research Unit.
1995 Guardian 11 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 77/5 Your cybergoal: to attain root status, the full access the head systems operator enjoys.
2010 V. Bruce & K. Hayes Hostage Nation v. 53 Pilots and systems operators had to learn procedures largely by word of mouth.
systems program n. Computing = system program n. at Compounds 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software
supervisor1956
system program1956
software1958
system1958
systems program1960
operating system1961
monitor1962
system software1962
open system1981
1960 Communications ACM 3 537 (heading) A list of computer systems programs for the ibm 650, datatron 205, and univac-SS80.
1973 M. D. Abrams & P. G. Stein Computer Hardware & Software iii. 14 Software may be divided into..applications programs, which are written to solve users' problems, and systems programs, which are concerned with operating the computer service.
2010 J. S. Warford Computer Syst. (ed. 4) i. 20 When you issue the command to delete a file from a disk, a systems program executes that command.
systems programmer n. Computing = system programmer n. at Compounds 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > operating systems software > designer
system designer1919
systems designer1926
system programmer1958
systems programmer1959
software engineer1962
1959 Amer. Math. Monthly 66 362 (advt.) Systems Programmer: to generate efficient and unique logical programs for real-time control computers.
2002 N. Patwardhan et al. Perl in Nutshell (ed. 2) i. 3 Perl is especially popular with systems programmers and web developers.
systems programming n. Computing the design or writing of system programs.
ΚΠ
1957 Amer. Math. Monthly 64 209 He has accepted a position as Manager, Systems Programming Department, Datamatic Corporation.
1993 E. S. Raymond New Hacker's Dict. (ed. 2) 320 Pascal has since been almost entirely displaced (by C) from the niches it had acquired in serious applications and systems programming.
2006 Stoke Sentinel (Nexis) 29 Mar. 29 For the more technical careers, like..systems programming and software engineering, there are various degree courses in computing and IT.
systems software n. Computing = system software n. at Compounds 3a.
ΚΠ
1962 IRE Trans. Engin. Managem. 9 98/1 He is the manager of the Systems Software Technology group.
1989 C. Stoll Cuckoo's Egg ii. 9 The operating system, along with the editors, software libraries, and language interpreters, make up the systems software.
2004 M. A. Cusumano Business of Software iii. 126 Sometimes they do not have the skills to build systems software for a new platform.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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