Stack

6 definitions found

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

  Stack \Stack\ (st[a^]k), n. [Icel. stakkr; akin to Sw. stack,
     Dan. stak. Cf. {Stake}.]
     1. A large and to some degree orderly pile of hay, grain,
        straw, or the like, usually of a nearly conical form, but
        sometimes rectangular or oblong, contracted at the top to
        a point or ridge, and sometimes covered with thatch.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack.
                                                    --Cowper.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Hence: An orderly pile of any type of object, indefinite
        in quantity; -- used especially of piles of wood. A stack
        is usually more orderly than a {pile}
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
              Against every pillar was a stack of billets above a
              man's height.                         --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Specifically: A pile of wood containing 108 cubic feet.
        [Eng.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Hence: A large quantity; as, a stack of cash. [Informal]
        [PJC]
  
     5. (Arch.)
        (a) A number of flues embodied in one structure, rising
            above the roof. Hence:
        (b) Any single insulated and prominent structure, or
            upright pipe, which affords a conduit for smoke; as,
            the brick smokestack of a factory; the smokestack of a
            steam vessel.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Computer programming)
        (a) A section of memory in a computer used for temporary
            storage of data, in which the last datum stored is the
            first retrieved.
        (b) A data structure within random-access memory used to
            simulate a hardware stack; as, a push-down stack.
            [PJC]
  
     7. pl. The section of a library containing shelves which hold
        books less frequently requested.
        [PJC]
  
     {Stack of arms} (Mil.), a number of muskets or rifles set up
        together, with the bayonets crossing one another, forming
        a sort of conical self-supporting pile.
  
     {to blow one's stacks} to become very angry and lose one's
        self-control, and especially to display one's fury by
        shouting.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

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

  Stack \Stack\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stacked} (st[a^]kt); p. pr.
     & vb. n. {Stacking}.] [Cf. Sw. stacka, Dan. stakke. See
     {Stack}, n.]
     1. To lay in a conical or other pile; to make into a large
        pile; as, to stack hay, cornstalks, or grain; to stack or
        place wood.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Specifically: To place in a vertical arrangement so that
        each item in a pile is resting on top of another item in
        the pile, except for the bottom item; as, to stack the
        papers neatly on the desk; to stack the bricks.
        [PJC]
  
     3. To select or arrange dishonestly so as to achieve an
        unfair advantage; as, to stack a deck of cards; to stack a
        jury with persons prejudiced against the defendant.
        [PJC]
  
     {To stack arms} (Mil.), to set up a number of muskets or
        rifles together, with the bayonets crossing one another,
        and forming a sort of conical pile.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  stack
       n 1: an orderly pile
       2: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent;
          "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of
          money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must
          have cost plenty" [syn: {batch}, {deal}, {flock}, {good
          deal}, {great deal}, {hatful}, {heap}, {lot}, {mass}, {mess},
           {mickle}, {mint}, {muckle}, {peck}, {pile}, {plenty}, {pot},
           {quite a little}, {raft}, {sight}, {slew}, {spate}, {tidy
          sum}, {wad}, {whole lot}, {whole slew}]
       3: a list in which the next item to be removed is the item most
          recently stored (LIFO) [syn: {push-down list}, {push-down
          stack}]
       4: a large tall chimney through which combustion gases and
          smoke can be evacuated [syn: {smokestack}]
       5: a storage device that handles data so that the next item to
          be retrieved is the item most recently stored (LIFO) [syn:
           {push-down storage}, {push-down store}]
       v 1: load or cover with stacks; "stack a truck with boxes"
       2: arrange in stacks; "heap firewood around the fireplace";
          "stack your books up on the shelves" [syn: {pile}, {heap}]
       3: arrange the order of so as to increase one's winning
          chances; "stack the deck of cards"

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

  234 Moby Thesaurus words for "stack":
     abundance, accumulate, accumulation, add up, adulterate,
     agglomerate, agglomeration, aggregate, aggregation, agree, amass,
     amassment, amount, anger, anthill, archives, armory, array,
     arsenal, atelier, attic, backlog, bag, bale, bank, bank up, barrel,
     basement, batch, bay, bin, bonded warehouse, book end,
     book support, book table, book tray, book truck, bookcase,
     bookholder, bookrack, bookrest, bookshelf, bookstack, bookstand,
     bottle, box, budget, bundle, bunker, burden, buttery, can,
     cargo dock, cellar, check out, chest, chimney, clamp, closet, cock,
     collect, collection, commissariat, commissary, compare,
     conservatory, considerable, cook, cornucopia, crate, crib,
     cumulation, cupboard, deal, deposit, depository, depot, dock,
     doctor, drawer, drift, dump, dune, embankment, exchequer, fake,
     fill, flue, flue pipe, folder, folio, freight, fumarole, funnel,
     glory hole, gobs, godown, good deal, great deal, haycock, haymow,
     hayrick, haystack, heap, heap up, heaps, hill, hoard, hold, host,
     hutch, inventory, jibe, juggle, lade, larder, lashings, library,
     load, loads, locker, loft, lot, lots, lumber room, lumberyard,
     magasin, magazine, make sense, manipulate, mass, material,
     materials, materiel, measure up, mess, mint, molehill, mound,
     mountain, mow, multitude, munitions, number, office, oodles, pack,
     pack away, peck, pile, pile up, piles, plant, plenitude, plenty,
     pocket, portfolio, pot, profusion, provisionment, provisions,
     pyramid, quantity, quite a little, rack, raft, rafts, rage, rant,
     rations, repertoire, repertory, repository, reservoir, retouch,
     revolving bookcase, rick, rig, sack, sail loft, salt, scads, sea,
     shelf, ship, sight, slew, slews, smokeshaft, smokestack, snowdrift,
     sophisticate, spate, squirrel away, stack room, stack up, stacks,
     stash, stock, stock room, stock-in-trade, stockpile, storage,
     store, storehouse, storeroom, stores, stovepipe, stow, studio,
     study, supplies, supply, supply base, supply depot, supply on hand,
     swarm, tamper with, tank, throng, tidy sum, treasure,
     treasure house, treasure room, treasury, vat, vault, volume, wad,
     wads, warehouse, whole slew, wine cellar, workroom
  
  

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

  stack n. The set of things a person has to do in the future. One speaks
     of the next project to be attacked as having risen to the top of the
     stack. "I'm afraid I've got real work to do, so this'll have to be
     pushed way down on my stack." "I haven't done it yet because every time
     I pop my stack something new gets pushed." If you are interrupted
     several times in the middle of a conversation, "My stack overflowed"
     means "I forget what we were talking about." The implication is that
     more items were pushed onto the stack than could be remembered, so the
     least recent items were lost. The usual physical example of a stack is
     to be found in a cafeteria: a pile of plates or trays sitting on a
     spring in a well, so that when you put one on the top they all sink
     down, and when you take one off the top the rest spring up a bit. See
     also {push} and {pop}.
  
     At MIT, {PDL} used to be a more common synonym for {stack} in all
     these contexts, and this may still be true. Everywhere else {stack}
     seems to be the preferred term. {Knuth} ("The Art of Computer
     Programming", second edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says:
  
       Many people who realized the importance of stacks and queues
    independently have given other names to these structures:
    stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages,
    cellars, nesting stores, piles, last-in-first-out ("LIFO")
    lists, and even yo-yo lists!
    
  

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

  stack
       
           (See below for synonyms) A data structure for
          storing items which are to be accessed in last-in first-out
          order.
       
          The operations on a stack are to create a new stack, to "push"
          a new item onto the top of a stack and to "pop" the top item
          off.  Error conditions are raised by attempts to pop an empty
          stack or to push an item onto a stack which has no room for
          further items (because of its implementation).
       
          Most processors include support for stacks in their
          {instruction set architecture}s.  Perhaps the most common use
          of stacks is to store subroutine arguments and return
          addresses.  This is usually supported at the {machine code}
          level either directly by "jump to subroutine" and "return from
          subroutine" instructions or by {auto-increment} and
          auto-decrement {addressing mode}s, or both.  These allow a
          contiguous area of memory to be set aside for use as a stack
          and use either a special-purpose {register} or a general
          purpose register, chosen by the user, as a {stack pointer}.
       
          The use of a stack allows subroutines to be {recursive} since
          each call can have its own calling context, represented by a
          stack frame or {activation record}.  There are many other
          uses.  The programming language {Forth} uses a data stack in
          place of variables when possible.
       
          Although a stack may be considered an {object} by users,
          implementations of the object and its access details differ.
          For example, a stack may be either ascending (top of stack is
          at highest address) or descending.  It may also be "full" (the
          stack pointer points at the top of stack) or "empty" (the
          stack pointer points just past the top of stack, where the
          next element would be pushed).  The full/empty terminology is
          used in the {Acorn Risc Machine} and possibly elsewhere.
       
          In a list-based or {functional language}, a stack might be
          implemented as a {linked list} where a new stack is an empty
          list, push adds a new element to the head of the list and pop
          splits the list into its head (the popped element) and tail
          (the stack in its modified form).
       
          At {MIT}, {pdl} used to be a more common synonym for stack,
          and this may still be true.  {Knuth} ("The Art of Computer
          Programming", second edition, vol. 1, p. 236) says:
       
            Many people who realised the importance of stacks and queues
            independently have given other names to these structures:
            stacks have been called push-down lists, reversion storages,
            cellars, dumps, nesting stores, piles, last-in first-out
            ("LIFO") lists, and even yo-yo lists!
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1995-04-10)