Introduction

5 definitions found

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

  Introduction \In`tro*duc"tion\, n. [L. introductio: cf. F.
     introduction. See {Introduce}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The act of introducing, or bringing to notice.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. The act of formally making persons known to each other; a
        presentation or making known of one person to another by
        name; as, the introduction of one stranger to another.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That part of a book or discourse which introduces or leads
        the way to the main subject, or part; preliminary; matter;
        preface; proem; exordium.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. A formal and elaborate preliminary treatise; specifically,
        a treatise introductory to other treatises, or to a course
        of study; a guide; as, an introduction to English
        literature.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  introduction
       n 1: the first section of a communication
       2: the act of beginning something new; "they looked forward to
          the debut of their new product line" [syn: {debut}, {first
          appearance}, {launching}, {unveiling}, {entry}]
       3: formally making a person known to another or to the public
          [syn: {presentation}, {intro}]
       4: a basic or elementary instructional text
       5: a new proposal; "they resisted the introduction of
          impractical alternatives"
       6: the act of putting one thing into another [syn: {insertion},
           {intromission}]
       7: the act of starting something for the first time;
          introducing something new; "she looked forward to her
          initiation as an adult"; "the foundation of a new
          scientific society"; "he regards the fork as a modern
          introduction" [syn: {initiation}, {founding}, {foundation},
           {institution}, {origination}, {creation}, {innovation}, {instauration}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  211 Moby Thesaurus words for "introduction":
     Vorspiel, abecedarium, abecedary, access, acknowledgments,
     acquaintance, acquaintedness, act, admission, afterpiece,
     and arithmetic, aside, avant-propos, back, back matter,
     bastard title, bibliography, bit, breakthrough, catch line,
     catchword, chaser, close acquaintance, cloture, coinage, colophon,
     coming out, committee consideration, concert overture, contents,
     contents page, copyright page, curtain, curtain call,
     curtain raiser, debate, debut, dedication, deliberation, descant,
     discovery, divertimento, divertissement, division,
     dramatic overture, elementary education, elements, embarkation,
     embarkment, embedment, endleaf, endpaper, endsheet, entrance,
     entree, entry, epilogue, episode, errata, exode, exodus, exordium,
     expository scene, filibuster, filibustering, filing, finale,
     first appearance, first reading, first steps, floating, flotation,
     flyleaf, folio, fore edge, foreword, front matter, frontispiece,
     graft, grafting, half-title page, head, hoke act, hornbook,
     impaction, impactment, implantation, import, importation,
     importing, imprint, inaugural address, inauguration, income,
     incoming, index, induction, infiltration, infix, infixion,
     infusion, ingoing, ingress, ingression, initiation, injection,
     innovation, inoculation, input, inscription, insert, insertion,
     insinuation, installation, installment, intake, intercalation,
     interjection, interlineation, interlocution, interlude, intermezzo,
     intermission, interpenetration, interpolation, introgression,
     intromission, intrusion, invention, knockdown, launching, leaf,
     leakage, leap, logrolling, maiden speech, makeup, neologism,
     new phase, novelty, number, obiter dictum, opener,
     operatic overture, overture, page, parenthesis, penetration,
     percolation, perfusion, postulate, preamble, preface, prefix,
     prefixture, preliminaries, preliminary, prelude, premise,
     presentation, presupposition, primer, proem, prolegomena,
     prolegomenon, prolepsis, prologue, propaedeutic, protasis, reading,
     reception, recto, remark, reverso, roll call, routine, rudiments,
     running title, scene, second reading, seepage, shtick, side remark,
     signature, sketch, skit, song and dance, stand-up comedy act,
     steamroller methods, striptease, subtitle, table of contents,
     tabling, tail, talkathon, tessellation, text, third reading, title,
     title page, tossing-in, trim size, turn, type page, unveiling,
     vamp, verse, verso, voluntary, vote, writing
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  Introduction
  
  This document is a collection of slang terms used by various subcultures
  of computer hackers. Though some technical material is included for
  background and flavor, it is not a technical dictionary; what we describe
  here is the language hackers use among themselves for fun, social
  communication, and technical debate.
  
  The `hacker culture' is actually a loosely networked collection of
  subcultures that is nevertheless conscious of some important shared
  experiences, shared roots, and shared values. It has its own myths, heroes,
  villains, folk epics, in-jokes, taboos, and dreams. Because hackers as a
  group are particularly creative people who define themselves partly by
  rejection of `normal' values and working habits, it has unusually rich and
  conscious traditions for an intentional culture less than 40 years old.
  
  As usual with slang, the special vocabulary of hackers helps hold their
  culture together -- it helps hackers recognize each other's places in the
  community and expresses shared values and experiences. Also as usual, _not_
  knowing the slang (or using it inappropriately) defines one as an outsider,
  a mundane, or (worst of all in hackish vocabulary) possibly even a {suit}.
  All human cultures use slang in this threefold way -- as a tool of
  communication, and of inclusion, and of exclusion.
  
  Among hackers, though, slang has a subtler aspect, paralleled perhaps in
  the slang of jazz musicians and some kinds of fine artists but hard to
  detect in most technical or scientific cultures; parts of it are code for
  shared states of _consciousness_. There is a whole range of altered states
  and problem-solving mental stances basic to high-level hacking which don't
  fit into conventional linguistic reality any better than a Coltrane solo or
  one of Maurits Escher's `trompe l'oeil' compositions (Escher is a favorite
  of hackers), and hacker slang encodes these subtleties in many unobvious
  ways. As a simple example, take the distinction between a {kluge} and an
  {elegant} solution, and the differing connotations attached to each. The
  distinction is not only of engineering significance; it reaches right back
  into the nature of the generative processes in program design and asserts
  something important about two different kinds of relationship between the
  hacker and the hack. Hacker slang is unusually rich in implications of this
  kind, of overtones and undertones that illuminate the hackish psyche.
  
  But there is more. Hackers, as a rule, love wordplay and are very
  conscious and inventive in their use of language. These traits seem to be
  common in young children, but the conformity-enforcing machine we are
  pleased to call an educational system bludgeons them out of most of us
  before adolescence. Thus, linguistic invention in most subcultures of the
  modern West is a halting and largely unconscious process. Hackers, by
  contrast, regard slang formation and use as a game to be played for
  conscious pleasure. Their inventions thus display an almost unique
  combination of the neotenous enjoyment of language-play with the
  discrimination of educated and powerful intelligence. Further, the
  electronic media which knit them together are fluid, `hot' connections,
  well adapted to both the dissemination of new slang and the ruthless
  culling of weak and superannuated specimens. The results of this process
  give us perhaps a uniquely intense and accelerated view of linguistic
  evolution in action.
  
  Hacker slang also challenges some common linguistic and anthropological
  assumptions. For example, it has recently become fashionable to speak of
  `low-context' versus `high-context' communication, and to classify cultures
  by the preferred context level of their languages and art forms. It is
  usually claimed that low-context communication (characterized by precision,
  clarity, and completeness of self-contained utterances) is typical in
  cultures which value logic, objectivity, individualism, and competition; by
  contrast, high-context communication (elliptical, emotive, nuance-filled,
  multi-modal, heavily coded) is associated with cultures which value
  subjectivity, consensus, cooperation, and tradition. What then are we to
  make of hackerdom, which is themed around extremely low-context interaction
  with computers and exhibits primarily "low-context" values, but cultivates
  an almost absurdly high-context slang style?
  
  The intensity and consciousness of hackish invention make a compilation
  of hacker slang a particularly effective window into the surrounding
  culture -- and, in fact, this one is the latest version of an evolving
  compilation called the `Jargon File', maintained by hackers themselves
  since the early 1970s. This one (like its ancestors) is primarily a
  lexicon, but also includes topic entries which collect background or
  sidelight information on hacker culture that would be awkward to try to
  subsume under individual slang definitions.
  
  Though the format is that of a reference volume, it is intended that the
  material be enjoyable to browse. Even a complete outsider should find at
  least a chuckle on nearly every page, and much that is amusingly
  thought-provoking. But it is also true that hackers use humorous wordplay
  to make strong, sometimes combative statements about what they feel. Some
  of these entries reflect the views of opposing sides in disputes that have
  been genuinely passionate; this is deliberate. We have not tried to
  moderate or pretty up these disputes; rather we have attempted to ensure
  that _everyone's_ sacred cows get gored, impartially. Compromise is not
  particularly a hackish virtue, but the honest presentation of divergent
  viewpoints is.
  
  The reader with minimal computer background who finds some references
  incomprehensibly technical can safely ignore them. We have not felt it
  either necessary or desirable to eliminate all such; they, too, contribute
  flavor, and one of this document's major intended audiences -- fledgling
  hackers already partway inside the culture -- will benefit from them.
  
  A selection of longer items of hacker folklore and humor is included in
  {Appendix A}. The `outside' reader's attention is particularly directed to
  the Portrait of J. Random Hacker in {Appendix B}. Appendix C, the
  {Bibliography}, lists some non-technical works which have either influenced
  or described the hacker culture.
  
  Because hackerdom is an intentional culture (one each individual must
  choose by action to join), one should not be surprised that the line
  between description and influence can become more than a little blurred.
  Earlier versions of the Jargon File have played a central role in spreading
  hacker language and the culture that goes with it to successively larger
  populations, and we hope and expect that this one will do likewise.
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  INTRODUCTION, n.  A social ceremony invented by the devil for the
  gratification of his servants and the plaguing of his enemies.  The
  introduction attains its most malevolent development in this century,
  being, indeed, closely related to our political system.  Every
  American being the equal of every other American, it follows that
  everybody has the right to know everybody else, which implies the
  right to introduce without request or permission.  The Declaration of
  Independence should have read thus:
  
          "We hold these truths to be self-evident:  that all men are
      created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
      inalienable rights; that among these are life, and the right to
      make that of another miserable by thrusting upon him an
      incalculable quantity of acquaintances; liberty, particularly the
      liberty to introduce persons to one another without first
      ascertaining if they are not already acquainted as enemies; and
      the pursuit of another's happiness with a running pack of
      strangers."