Adjacent Words

Hardware definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

H`ARDWARE, n. Wares made of iron or other metal, as pots,kettles, saws, knives, etc.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: major items of military weaponry (as tanks or missile)
2: instrumentalities (tools or implements) made of metal [syn: hardware, ironware]
3: (computer science) the mechanical, magnetic, electronic, and electrical components making up a computer system [syn: hardware, computer hardware] [ant: computer software, package, software, software package, software program, software system]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1515 1. ware (as fittings, cutlery, tools, utensils, or parts of machines) made of metal 2. major items of equipment or their components used for a particular purpose <educational hardware>: as a. military equipment b. the physical components (as electronic and electrical devices) of a vehicle (as a spacecraft) or an apparatus (as a computer) 3. an award (as a trophy, medal, or cup) given in a sports competition

Britannica Concise

Computer machinery and equipment, incl. memory, cabling, power supply, peripheral devices, and circuit boards. Computer operation requires both hardware and software. Hardware design specifies a computer's capability; software instructs the computer on what to do. The advent of microprocessors in the late 1970s led to much smaller hardware assemblies and accelerated the proliferation of computers. Today's personal computers are as powerful as the early mainframes, while mainframes are now smaller and have vastly more computing power than the early models.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 tools and household articles of metal etc. 2 heavy machinery or armaments. 3 the mechanical and electronic components of a computer etc. (cf. SOFTWARE).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hardware Hard"ware`, n. Ware made of metal, as cutlery, kitchen utensils, and the like; ironmongery.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. In computer systems, hardware refers to the machines themselves as opposed to the programs which tell the machines what to do. Compare software. 2. Military hardware is the machinery and equipment that is used by the armed forces, such as tanks, aircraft, and missiles. N-UNCOUNT: usu adj N 3. Hardware refers to tools and equipment that are used in the home and garden, for example saucepans, screwdrivers, and lawnmowers.

Moby Thesaurus

appliances, armaments, arms, brassware, chinaware, clayware, components, computer, computer hardware, computer unit, copperware, devices, dinnerware, durable goods, durables, earthenware, electronic brain, electronic computer, enamelware, fixtures, flatware, glassware, graniteware, hard goods, hollow ware, housefurnishings, housewares, information machine, ironmongery, ironware, kitchenware, machinery, materiel, metalware, munitions, ovenware, silverware, sporting goods, stoneware, tableware, thinking machine, tinware, tools, tools and machinery, white goods, woodenware