socket Hear it!

socket Definition

socket (säk′it)

noun

a hollow piece or part into which something fits the socket for a light bulb, of the eye, of the hipbone, etc.

Etymology: ME soket, spearhead shaped like a plowshare < Anglo-Fr, dim. < OFr soc, plowshare < Gaul *soccus, plowshare, orig., pig's snout (hence, that which roots out) < IE *suk-, var. of base *su-, sow

transitive verb

to furnish with or fit into a socket

socket Synonyms

socket

n.

holder, opening, standard, support, device, cavity, joint, outlet.

Socket Hacker Definition

Is roughly analogous to a port and is a communication endpoint for a TCP or UDP connection. One process is said to open a socket to listen for incoming connections, and a second process connects to a socket to establish a communication session. 

Sockets can also be used for interprocess communication on a single computer, and multiple sockets can be made to communicate with one another. Sockets are bidirectional, which means that both sides of the connection can send and receive information.

See Also: Port and Port Numbers; TCP/IP or Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol; User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

About, Inc. Socket. [Online, 2004.] About, Inc. Website. http://compnet working.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-socket.htm.

socket Telecom Definition

  1. An operating system (OS) abstraction that permits application programs to access communications protocols automatically. Bolt Beranek and Newman (now BBN Technologies) developed the concept in conjunction with the company's early work on TCP/IP. See also application, OS, program, protocol, and TCP/IP.
  2. Comprising a node address and a port number, a socket is an identifier for a service on a node. In combination a socket on an originating node and a socket on a destination node establish an application session. An Internet Protocol (IP) addressable client and server, for example, might engage in an e-mail transfer using SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), which is well-known port 25. See also application, client, IP, node, port, server, session, SMTP, SOCKS, and well-known port.

socket Usage Examples

Object

ax: A single fragment of bronze, probably part of a socketed ax, was recovered with the aid of a metal detector.

Preposition: on

motherboard: Try connecting your CPU fan to another socket on the motherboard.

Adjective modifier

  • 3.5mm: Stereo Output: The phone jack provided with the mini kit is replaced with a 3.5mm stereo jack socket.
  • 13amp: The 8-way version comes with a power pack, which needs plugging into a 13amp socket.
  • aerial: There is no color TV although an aerial socket is provided.
  • 32-pin: There are also versions that use RAM memory in the 32-pin socket to allow bigger buffers.
  • electrical: You can access the network from any electrical power socket anywhere in your house.
  • MIC: However, plugging Jonah into the MIC socket produced a fuzzy unintelligible gabble as if he was speaking from the belly of the whale.

Converse of object

overload: But if you overload the adaptor, it can overload the socket.

Modifies a noun

  • buffer: These following graphs show the size of the socket buffer queues in tcp.
  • outlet: Electrical socket outlets are not permitted in a bathroom.
  • am2: Intel conroe and amd socket AM2 are coming this summer.
  • descriptor: It is possible to do non-blocking IO on sockets by setting the O_NONBLOCK flag on a socket file descriptor using fcntl(2 ).
  • layer: Our secure sockets layer ( SSL ) uses 128-bit encryption.

Noun used with modifier

  • headphone: There is a headphone socket located on the back panel How do I adjust the volume of the audio?
  • shaver: Shower Room: With shower cubicle having sliding door, hand basin with tiled splash back, strip light, shaver socket.
  • scart: These scart sockets are included in the total number of scart sockets listed above.
  • datagram: Received broadcast messages contain the sender's address and port, because datagram sockets are bound before a message is allowed to go out.
  • phono: Devices can be attached either via the three phono sockets or an S-Video Port.
  • TCP: Create a TCP server socket on a port, using the default authentication context.