Asterisk

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Asterisk \As"ter*isk\, n. [L. asteriscus, Gr. ?, dim. of 'asth`r
     star. See {Aster}.]
     The figure of a star, thus, ?, used in printing and writing
     as a reference to a passage or note in the margin, to supply
     the omission of letters or words, or to mark a word or phrase
     as having a special character.


     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  asterisk
       n : a star-shaped character * used in printing [syn: {star}]
       v : mark with an asterisk; "Linguists star unacceptable
           sentences" [syn: {star}]

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  asterisk
       
           "*" {ASCII} code 42.  Common names include: star;
          {INTERCAL}: {splat}; {ITU-T}: asterisk.  Rare: {wild card};
          gear; dingle; mult; spider; aster; times; twinkle; {glob};
          {Nathan Hale}.  Commonly used as the multiplication operator
          and as the {Kleene star}.
       
          (2000-07-26)