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literalmore about literal

literal

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Literal  \Lit"er*al\,  n. 
  Literal  meaning.  [Obs.]  --Sir  T.  Browne. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Literal  \Lit"er*al\,  a.  [F.  lit['e]ral,  litt['e]ral,  L. 
  litteralis  literalis,  fr  littera,  litera,  a  letter.  See 
  {Letter}.] 
  1.  According  to  the  letter  or  verbal  expression;  real;  not 
  figurative  or  metaphorical;  as  the  literal  meaning  of  a 
  phrase. 
 
  It  hath  but  one  simple  literal  sense  whose  light  the 
  owls  can  not  abide.  --Tyndale. 
 
  2.  Following  the  letter  or  exact  words  not  free 
 
  A  middle  course  between  the  rigor  of  literal 
  translations  and  the  liberty  of  paraphrasts. 
  --Hooker. 
 
  3.  Consisting  of  or  expressed  by  letters. 
 
  The  literal  notation  of  numbers  was  known  to 
  Europeans  before  the  ciphers.  --Johnson. 
 
  4.  Giving  a  strict  or  literal  construction;  unimaginative; 
  matter-of  fast  --  applied  to  persons. 
 
  {Literal  contract}  (Law),  contract  of  which  the  whole 
  evidence  is  given  in  writing.  --Bouvier. 
 
  {Literal  equation}  (Math.),  an  equation  in  which  known 
  quantities  are  expressed  either  wholly  or  in  part  by  means 
  of  letters;  --  distinguished  from  a  numerical  equation. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  literal 
  adj  1:  being  or  reflecting  the  essential  or  genuine  character  of 
  something  "her  actual  motive";  "a  literal  solitude 
  like  a  desert"-  G.K.Chesterton;  "a  genuine  dilemma" 
  [syn:  {actual},  {genuine},  {real}] 
  2:  without  interpretation  or  embellishment;  "a  literal 
  translation  of  the  scene  before  him" 
  3:  limited  to  the  explicit  meaning  of  a  word  or  text;  "a 
  literal  translation"  [ant:  {figurative}] 
  4:  lacking  stylistic  embellishment;  "a  literal  description"; 
  "wrote  good  but  plain  prose";  "a  plain  unadorned  account 
  of  the  coronation";  "a  forthright  unembellished  style" 
  [syn:  {plain},  {unembellished}] 
  5:  of  the  clearest  kind  usually  used  for  emphasis;  "it's  the 
  literal  truth";  "a  matter  of  investment,  pure  and  simple" 
  [syn:  {pure  and  simple}] 
  6:  (of  a  translation)  corresponding  word  for  word  with  the 
  original;  "literal  translation  of  the  article";  "an 
  awkward  word-for-word  translation"  [syn:  {word-for-word}] 
  n  :  a  mistake  in  printed  matter  resulting  from  mechanical 
  failures  of  some  kind  [syn:  {misprint},  {erratum},  {typographical 
  error},  {typo},  {literal  error}] 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  literal 
 
    A  constant  made  available  to  a  process,  by 
  inclusion  in  the  executable  text.  Most  modern  systems  do  not 
  allow  texts  to  modify  themselves  during  execution,  so  literals 
  are  indeed  constant;  their  value  is  written  at  compile-time 
  and  is  read-only  at  run-time. 
 
  In  contrast,  values  placed  in  variables  or  files  and  accessed 
  by  the  process  via  a  symbolic  name  can  be  changed  during 
  execution.  This  may  be  an  asset.  For  example,  messages  can 
  be  given  in  a  choice  of  languages  by  placing  the  translation 
  in  a  file. 
 
  Literals  are  used  when  such  modification  is  not  desired.  The 
  name  of  the  file  mentioned  above  (not  its  content),  or  a 
  physical  constant  such  as  3.14159,  might  be  coded  as  a 
  literal.  Literals  can  be  accessed  quickly,  a  potential 
  advantage  of  their  use 
 
  (1996-01-23)




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