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more about ampersand
ampersand |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Ampersand \Am"per*sand\, n. [A corruption of and per se and i. e., & by itself makes and.] A word used to describe the character ?, ?, or &. --Halliwell. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: ampersand n : a punctuation mark (&) used to represent conjunction and From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: ampersand"&" {ASCII} character 38. Common names: {ITU-T}, {INTERCAL}: ampersand; amper; and Rare: address (from {C}); reference (from C++); bitand background (from {sh}); pretzel; amp. A common symbol for "and", used as the "address of" operator in {C}, the reference" operator in {C++} and a {bitwise} {AND} operator in several programming languages. {UNIX} {shells} use the character to indicate that a task should be run in the {background}. The ampersand is a ligature (combination) of the cursive letters e" and "t", invented in 63 BC by Marcus Tirus [Tiro?] as shorthand for the Latin word for "and", "et". The word ampersand is a conflation (combination) of "and, per se and". Per se means "by itself", and so the phrase translates to "&, standing by itself means 'and'". This was at the end of the alphabet as it was recited by children in old English schools. The words ran together and were associated with "&". The ampersand" spelling dates from 1837. {Take our word for it (http://www.takeourword.com/Issue010.html)}. (2000-10-28)
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