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5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Random \Ran"dom\, a. Going at random or by chance; done or made at hazard, or without settled direction, aim or purpose; hazarded without previous calculation; left to chance; haphazard; as a random guess. Some random truths he can impart. --Wordsworth. So sharp a spur to the lazy, and so strong a bridle to the random. --H. Spencer. {Random courses} (Masonry), courses of unequal thickness. {Random shot}, a shot not directed or aimed toward any particular object, or a shot with the muzzle of the gun much elevated. {Random work} (Masonry), stonework consisting of stones of unequal sizes fitted together, but not in courses nor always with flat beds. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Random \Ran"dom\, n. [OE. randon, OF randon force, violence, rapidity, a randon, de randon, violently, suddenly, rapidly, prob. of German origin; cf G. rand edge, border, OHG. rant shield, edge of a shield, akin to E. rand, n. See {Rand}, n.] 1. Force; violence. [Obs.] For courageously the two kings newly fought with great random and force. --E. Hall. 2. A roving motion; course without definite direction; want of direction, rule or method; hazard; chance; -- commonly used in the phrase at random, that is without a settled point of direction; at hazard. Counsels, when they fly At random, sometimes hit most happily. --Herrick. O, many a shaft, at random sent, Finds mark the archer little meant ! --Sir W. Scott. 3. Distance to which a missile is cast; range; reach; as the random of a rifle ball. --Sir K. Digby 4. (Mining) The direction of a rake-vein. --Raymond. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: random adj 1: lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance; "a random choice"; "bombs fell at random"; "random movements" [ant: {nonrandom}] 2: taken haphazardly; "a random choice" From Jargon File (4.2.3, 23 NOV 2000) [jargon]: random adj 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly." 2. Assorted; undistinguished. "Who was at the conference?" "Just a bunch of random business types." 3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. "He's just a random loser." 4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organized. "The program has a random set of misfeatures." "That's a random name for that function." "Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly." 5. In no particular order though deterministic. "The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen randomly." 6. Arbitrary. "It generates a random name for the scratch file." 7. Gratuitously wrong i.e., poorly done and for no good apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in a particularly useless way or an assembler routine that could easily have been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving four extra registers. What {randomness}! 8. n. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in the way 9. n. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes anyone not known to the hacker speaking); the noun form of sense 2. "I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions". 10. n. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also {J. Random}, {some random X}. 11. [UK] Conversationally, a non sequitur or something similarly out-of-the-blue. As in: "Stop being so random!" This sense equates to `hatstand', taken from the Viz comic character "Roger Irrelevant - He's completely Hatstand." From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: random 1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical definition); weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly." 2. Assorted; undistinguished. "Who was at the conference?" "Just a bunch of random business types." 3. (pejorative) Frivolous; unproductive; undirected. "He's just a random loser." 4. Incoherent or inelegant; poorly chosen; not well organised. "The program has a random set of misfeatures." "That's a random name for that function." "Well, all the names were chosen pretty randomly." 5. In no particular order though {deterministic}. "The I/O channels are in a pool, and when a file is opened one is chosen randomly." 6. Arbitrary. "It generates a random name for the scratch file." 7. Gratuitously wrong i.e. poorly done and for no good apparent reason. For example, a program that handles file name defaulting in a particularly useless way or an assembler routine that could easily have been coded using only three registers, but redundantly uses seven for values with non-overlapping lifetimes, so that no one else can invoke it without first saving four extra registers. What {randomness}! 8. A random hacker; used particularly of high-school students who soak up computer time and generally get in the way 9. Anyone who is not a hacker (or, sometimes anyone not known to the hacker speaking). "I went to the talk, but the audience was full of randoms asking bogus questions". 10. (occasional MIT usage) One who lives at Random Hall. See also {J. Random}, {some random X}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-12-05)
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