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code

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The definition of a code is a set of rules or a system of communication, often with randomly assigned numbers and letters given specific meanings.

(noun)

An example of code is the state's vehicle laws.
An example of code is a made up language that two children use to speak to each other.

Code means to create a message with randomly assigned numbers and letters.

(verb)

An example of code is to discover the secret meaning of a coded alphabet.

See code in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a body of laws, as of a nation or city, organized for easy reference
any set of principles or rules of conduct: a moral code
1. a set of signals representing letters or numerals, used to send messages, as by telegraph or flags
2. genetic code
1. a system of symbols used as in secret writing or information processing, in which letters, figures, etc. are arbitrarily given certain meanings
2. the symbols in such a system
a binary system for converting information, data, etc. into a form for use in computers, telecommunications, etc.

Origin: OFr < L codex (earlier caudex), wooden tablet for writing (hence, book: in LL(Ec), code of laws), orig., tree trunk, wood split into tablets, prob. < cudere, *caudere, to strike < IE base *kāu- > hew

transitive verb coded, coding

to put in the form or symbols of a code
to put in a binary form, as for computer use

Related Forms:

coder noun

See code in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A systematically arranged and comprehensive collection of laws.
A systematic collection of regulations and rules of procedure or conduct: a traffic code.
a. A system of signals used to represent letters or numbers in transmitting messages.
b. A system of symbols, letters, or words given certain arbitrary meanings, used for transmitting messages requiring secrecy or brevity.
A system of symbols and rules used to represent instructions to a computer; a computer program.
Genetics The genetic code.
Slang A patient whose heart has stopped beating, as in cardiac arrest.