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avatar

 

  5  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Avatar  \Av`a*tar"\,  n.  [Skr.  avat[^a]ra  descent;  ava  from  +  root 
  t[.r]  to  cross,  pass  over.] 
  1.  (Hindoo  Myth.)  The  descent  of  a  deity  to  earth,  and  his 
  incarnation  as  a  man  or  an  animal;  --  chiefly  associated 
  with  the  incarnations  of  Vishnu. 
 
  2.  Incarnation;  manifestation  as  an  object  of  worship  or 
  admiration. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  avatar 
  n  1:  ny  new  embodiment  of  a  familiar  idea;  "the  incarnation  of 
  evil";  "the  very  avatar  of  cunning"  [syn:  {embodiment}, 
  {incarnation}] 
  2:  the  manifestation  of  a  Hindu  deity  (especially  Vishnu)  in 
  human  or  superhuman  or  animal  form  "the  Buddha  is 
  considered  an  avatar  of  the  god  Vishnu" 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  avatar  n.  Syn.  [in  Hindu  mythology,  the  incarnation  of  a  god] 
  1.  Among  people  working  on  virtual  reality  and  {cyberspace}  interfaces, 
  an  avatar"  is  an  icon  or  representation  of  a  user  in  a  shared  virtual 
  reality.  The  term  is  sometimes  used  on  {MUD}s.  2.  [CMU,  Tektronix] 
  {root},  {superuser}.  There  are  quite  a  few  Unix  machines  on  which 
  the  name  of  the  superuser  account  is  `avatar'  rather  than  `root'. 
  This  quirk  was  originated  by  a  CMU  hacker  who  found  the  terms  `root' 
  and  `superuser'  unimaginative,  and  thought  `avatar'  might  better  impress 
  people  with  the  responsibility  they  were  accepting. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  avatar 
 
  1.  virtual  reality>  An  {image}  representing  a  user  in  a 
  multi-user  {virtual  reality}  (or  VR-like,  in  the  case  of 
  {Palace})  space. 
 
  2.  (CMU,  Tektronix)  {root},  {superuser}.  There  are  quite  a 
  few  {Unix}  computers  on  which  the  name  of  the  superuser 
  account  is  avatar"  rather  than  "root".  This  quirk  was 
  originated  by  a  {CMU}  hacker  who  disliked  the  term 
  "superuser",  and  was  propagated  through  an  ex-CMU  hacker  at 
  {Tektronix}. 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (1997-09-14) 
 
 
 
  From  V.E.R.A.  --  Virtual  Entity  of  Relevant  Acronyms  13  March  2001  [vera]: 
 
  AVATAR 
  Advanced  Video  Attribute  Terminal  Assembler  and  Recreator  (BBS)




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