Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter P - Page 66
Ping (v. i.) To make the sound called ping.
Compare: Backfire
Backfire, back fire, () A fire started ahead of a forest or prairie fire to burn only against the wind, so that when the two fires meet both must go out for lack of fuel.
Backfire, back fire, () (a) A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in a direction reverse to that in which it should travel; also called a knock or ping.
Backfire, back fire, () (b) An explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine. Backfire
Ping (n.) A river in western Thailand; a major tributary of the Chao Phraya [syn: Ping, Ping River]
Ping (n.) A sharp high-pitched resonant sound (as of a sonar echo or a bullet striking metal).
Ping (v.) Hit with a pinging noise; "The bugs pinged the lamp shade."
Ping (v.) Sound like a car engine that is firing too early; "the car pinged when I put in low-octane gasoline"; "The car pinked when the ignition was too far retarded" [syn: pink, ping, knock].
Ping (v.) Make a short high-pitched sound; "the bullet pinged when they struck the car."
Ping (v.) Contact, usually in order to remind of something; "I'll ping my accountant--April 15 is nearing."
Ping (v.) Send a message from one computer to another to check whether it is reachable and active; "ping your machine in the office."
PING, () Packet InterNet Groper (ICMP, TCP/ IP).
Ping, () [from the submariners' term for a sonar pulse] (n.) Slang term for a small network message (ICMP ECHO) sent by a computer to check for the presence and alertness of another. The Unix command ping (8) can be used to do this manually (note that ping (8)'s author denies the widespread folk etymology that the name was ever intended as an acronym for ?Packet INternet Groper?). Occasionally used as a phone greeting. See ACK , also ENQ.
Ping, () (v. t.) To verify the presence of.
Ping, () (v. t.) To get the attention of.
Ping, () (v. t.) To send a message to all members of a mailing list requesting an {ACK (in order to verify that everybody's addresses are reachable). ?We haven't heard much of anything from Geoff, but he did respond with an ACK both times I pinged jargon-friends.?
Ping, () (n.) A quantum packet of happiness. People who are very happy tend to exude pings; furthermore, one can intentionally create pings and aim them at a needy party (e.g., a depressed person). This sense of ping may appear as an exclamation; ?Ping!? (I'm happy; I am emitting a quantum of happiness; I have been struck by a quantum of happiness). The form ? pingfulness?, which is used to describe people who exude pings, also occurs. (In the standard abuse of language, ?pingfulness? can also be used as an exclamation, in which case it's a much stronger exclamation than just ?ping?!). Oppose blargh.
The funniest use of ?ping? to date was described in January 1991 by Steve Hayman on the Usenet group comp.sys.next. He was trying to isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/IP Ethernet hooked up to a NeXT machine, and got tired of having to run back to his console after each cabling tweak to see if the ping packets were getting through. So he used the sound-recording feature on the NeXT, then wrote a script that repeatedly invoked ping (8), listened for an echo, and played back the recording on each returned packet. Result? A program that caused the machine to repeat, over and over, ?Ping ... ping ... ping ...? as long as the network was up. He turned the volume to maximum, ferreted through the building with one ear cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time.
Ping
Packet InterNet Groper
ping command
pinging, () (ping, originally contrived to match submariners' term for the sound of a returned sonar pulse) A program written in 1983 by Mike Muuss (who also wrote TTCP) used to test reachability of destinations by sending them one, or repeated, ICMP echo requests and waiting for replies.
Since ping works at the IP level its server-side is often implemented entirely within the operating system kernel and is thus the lowest level test of whether a remote host is alive. Ping will often respond even when higher level, TCP-based services cannot.
Sadly, Mike Muuss was killed in a road accident on 2000-11-20.
The term is also used as a verb: "Ping host X to see if it is up."
The Unix command "ping" can be used to do this and to measure round-trip delays.
The funniest use of "ping" was described in January 1991 by Steve Hayman on the Usenet group comp.sys.next. He was trying to isolate a faulty cable segment on a TCP/ IP Ethernet hooked up to a NeXT machine. Using the sound recording feature on the NeXT, he wrote a script that repeatedly invoked ping, listened for an echo, and played back the recording on each returned packet. This caused the machine to repeat, over and over, "Ping ... ping ... ping ..." as long as the network was up. He turned the volume to maximum, ferreted through the building with one ear cocked, and found a faulty tee connector in no time.
Ping did not stand for "Packet InterNet Groper", Dave Mills offered this backronym expansion some time later.
See also ACK, ENQ, traceroute, spray.
The Story of the Ping Program Unix manual page: ping (8).
(2005-06-22)
Pingle (n.) A small piece of inclosed ground.
Pingster (n.) See Pinkster.
Pinguicula (n.) See Butterwort.
Pinguid (a.) Fat; unctuous; greasy.
Pinguidinous (a.) Containing fat; fatty.
Pinguitude (n.) Fatness; a growing fat; obesity.
Pinhold (n.) A place where a pin is fixed.
Pinic (a.) Of or pertaining to the pine; obtained from the pine; formerly, designating an acid which is the chief constituent of common resin, -- now called abietic, or sylvic, acid.
Pining (a.) Languishing; drooping; wasting away, as with longing.
Pining (a.) Wasting; consuming.
Piningly (adv.) In a pining manner; droopingly.
Pinion (n.) A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
Pinion (n.) A feather; a quill.
Pinion (n.) A wing, literal or figurative.
Pinion (n.) The joint of bird's wing most remote from the body.
Pinion (n.) A fetter for the arm.
Pinion (n.) A cogwheel with a small number of teeth, or leaves, adapted to engage with a larger wheel, or rack (see Rack); esp., such a wheel having its leaves formed of the substance of the arbor or spindle which is its axis.
Pinioned (imp. & p. p.) of Pinion.
Pinioning (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Pinion.
Pinion (v. t.) To bind or confine the wings of; to confine by binding the wings.
Pinion (v. t.) To disable by cutting off the pinion joint.
Pinion (v. t.) To disable or restrain, as a person, by binding the arms, esp. by binding the arms to the body.
Pinion (v. t.) Hence, generally, to confine; to bind; to tie up.
Pinioned (a.) Having wings or pinions.
Pinionist (n.) Any winged creature.
Pinite (n.) A compact granular cryptocrystalline mineral of a dull grayish or greenish white color. It is a hydrous alkaline silicate, and is derived from the alteration of other minerals, as iolite.
Pinite (n.) Any fossil wood which exhibits traces of having belonged to the Pine family.
Pinite (n.) A sweet white crystalline substance extracted from the gum of a species of pine (Pinus Lambertina). It is isomeric with, and resembles, quercite.
Pink (n.) A vessel with a very narrow stern; -- called also pinky.
Pink (v. i.) To wink; to blink.
Pink (a.) Half-shut; winking.
Pinked (imp. & p. p.) of Pink.
Pinking (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Pink.
Pink (v. t.) To pierce with small holes; to cut the edge of, as cloth or paper, in small scallops or angles.
Pink (v. t.) To stab; to pierce as with a sword.
Pink (v. t.) To choose; to cull; to pick out.
Pink (n.) A stab.
Pink (v. t.) A name given to several plants of the caryophyllaceous genus Dianthus, and to their flowers, which are sometimes very fragrant and often double in cultivated varieties. The species are mostly perennial herbs, with opposite linear leaves, and handsome five-petaled flowers with a tubular calyx.
Pink (v. t.) A color resulting from the combination of a pure vivid red with more or less white; -- so called from the common color of the flower.
Pink (v. t.) Anything supremely excellent; the embodiment or perfection of something.
Pink (v. t.) The European minnow; -- so called from the color of its abdomen in summer.
Pink (a.) Resembling the garden pink in color; of the color called pink (see 6th Pink, 2); as, a pink dress; pink ribbons.
Pinked (a.) Pierced with small holes; worked in eyelets; scalloped on the edge.
Pink-eyed (a.) Having small eyes.
Pinking (n.) The act of piercing or stabbing.
Pinking (n.) The act or method of decorating fabrics or garments with a pinking iron; also, the style of decoration; scallops made with a pinking iron.
Pinkish (a.) Somewhat pink.
Pinkness (n.) Quality or state of being pink.
Pinkroot (n.) The root of Spigelia Marilandica, used as a powerful vermifuge; also, that of S. Anthelmia. See definition 2 (below).
Pinkroot (n.) A perennial North American herb (Spigelia Marilandica), sometimes cultivated for its showy red blossoms. Called also Carolina pink, Maryland pinkroot, and worm grass.
Pinkroot (n.) An annual South American and West Indian plant (Spigelia Anthelmia).
Pinkster (n.) Whitsuntide.
Pink stern () See Chebacco, and 1st Pink.
Pink-sterned (a.) Having a very narrow stern; -- said of a vessel.
Pinky (n.) See 1st Pink.
Pinnae (n. pl. ) of Pinna.
Pinnas (n. pl. ) of Pinna.
Pinna (n.) A leaflet of a pinnate leaf. See Illust. of Bipinnate leaf, under Bipinnate.
Pinna (n.) One of the primary divisions of a decompound leaf.
Pinna (n.) One of the divisions of a pinnate part or organ.
Pinna (n.) Any species of Pinna, a genus of large bivalve mollusks found in all warm seas. The byssus consists of a large number of long, silky fibers, which have been used in manufacturing woven fabrics, as a curiosity.
Pinna (n.) The auricle of the ear. See Ear.
Pinnace (n.) A small vessel propelled by sails or oars, formerly employed as a tender, or for coast defence; -- called originally, spynace or spyne.
Pinnace (n.) A man-of-war's boat.
Pinnace (n.) A procuress; a pimp.
Pinnacle (n.) An architectural member, upright, and generally ending in a small spire, -- used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire, and the like. Pinnacles may be considered primarily as added weight, where it is necessary to resist the thrust of an arch, etc.
Pinnacle (n.) Anything resembling a pinnacle; a lofty peak; a pointed summit.
Pinnacled (imp. & p. p.) of Pinnacle.
Pinnacling (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Pinnacle.
Pinnacle (v. t.) To build or furnish with a pinnacle or pinnacles.
Pinnage (n.) Poundage of cattle. See Pound.
Pinnate (a.) Alt. of Pinnated.
Pinnated (a.) Consisting of several leaflets, or separate portions, arranged on each side of a common petiole, as the leaves of a rosebush, a hickory, or an ash. See Abruptly pinnate, and Illust., under Abruptly.
Pinnated (a.) Having a winglike tuft of long feathers on each side of the neck.
Pinnately (adv.) In a pinnate manner.
Pinnatifid (a.) Divided in a pinnate manner, with the divisions not reaching to the midrib.
Pinnatilobate (a.) Having lobes arranged in a pinnate manner.
Pinnatiped (a.) Having the toes bordered by membranes; fin-footed, as certain birds.
Pinnatiped (n.) Any bird which has the toes bordered by membranes.
Pinnatisect (a.) Divided pinnately nearly to the midrib. Used of certain leaves.
Pinner (n.) One who, or that which, pins or fastens, as with pins.
Pinner (n.) A headdress like a cap, with long lappets.
Pinner (n.) An apron with a bib; a pinafore.
Pinner (n.) A cloth band for a gown.
Pinner (n.) A pin maker.
Pinner (n.) One who pins or impounds cattle. See Pin, v. t.
Pinnet (n.) A pinnacle.
Pinniform (a.) Shaped like a fin or feather.
Pinnigrada (n. pl.) Same as Pinnipedia.
Pinnigrade (n.) An animal of the seal tribe, moving by short feet that serve as paddles.
Pinniped (n.) (Zool.) One of the Pinnipedia; a seal.
Pinniped (n.) (Zool.) One of the Pinnipedes.
Pinniped (n.) Aquatic carnivorous mammal having a streamlined body specialized for swimming with limbs modified as flippers [syn: pinniped mammal, pinniped, pinnatiped].
Pinnipedes (n. pl.) [NL.] (Zool.) Same as Steganopodes.
Pinnipedia (n. pl.) (Zool.) A suborder of aquatic carnivorous mammals including the seals and walruses; -- opposed to Fissipedia.
Pinnipedia (n.) Seals; sea lions; walruses [syn: Pinnipedia, suborder Pinnipedia].
Pinnock (n.) (Zool.) The hedge sparrow. [Prov. Eng.]
Pinnock (n.) (Zool.) The tomtit.
Pinnothere (n.) (Zool.) A crab of the genus pinnotheres. See Oyster crab, under Oyster.
Pinnulae (n. pl. ) of Pinnula.
Pinnula (n.) [L.] Same as Pinnule.
Pinnulate (a.) (Bot.) Having each pinna subdivided; -- said of a leaf, or of its pinnae.