Ping

7 definitions found

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

  Ping \Ping\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Pinged}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Pinging}.]
     To make the sound called ping.
     [1913 Webster]

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



  Ping \Ping\, n. [Probably of imitative origin.]
     The sound made by a bullet in striking a solid object or in
     passing through the air.
     [1913 Webster]

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

  backfire \backfire\, back fire \back fire\
     1. 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.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     2.
        (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}.
        (b) an explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal
            combustion engine.
            [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC] Backfire

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Ping
       n 1: a river in western Thailand; a major tributary of the Chao
            Phraya [syn: {Ping River}]
       2: a sharp high-pitched resonant sound (as of a sonar echo or a
          bullet striking metal)
       v 1: hit with a pinging noise; "The bugs pinged the lamp shade"
       2: 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}, {knock}]
       3: make a short high-pitched sound; "the bullet pinged when
          they struck the car"
       4: contact, usually in order to remind of something; "I'll ping
          my accountant--April 15 is nearing"
       5: send a message from one computer to another to check whether
          it is reachable and active; "ping your machine in the
          office"

From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:

  PING
       Packet InterNet Groper (ICMP, TCP/IP)
       
       

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

  ping [from the submariners' term for a sonar pulse] 1. 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}. 2. vt. To verify the presence of. 3. vt. To get
     the attention of. 4. vt. 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." 5. 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.
  
  

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

  ping
       
          {Packet InterNet Groper}