Define the word user"User" gcide "The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48"
User \Us"er\, n.
1. One who uses. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Law) Enjoyment of property; use. --Mozley & W.
[1913 Webster]
"user" wn "WordNet (r) 2.0"
user
n 1: a person who makes use of a thing; someone who uses or
employs something
2: a person who uses something or someone selfishly or
unethically [syn: exploiter]
3: a person who takes drugs [syn: drug user, substance abuser]
"user" moby-thes "Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0"
45 Moby Thesaurus words for "user":
LSD user, acidhead, addict, alcoholic, buyer, chain smoker,
cocaine sniffer, cokie, consumer, cubehead, dipsomaniac,
dope fiend, doper, droit du seigneur, drug abuser, drug addict,
drug user, drunkard, employer, enjoyer, enjoyment of property,
fiend, freak, glue sniffer, habitual, head, heavy smoker, hophead,
hype, imperfect usufruct, junkie, marijuana smoker, methhead,
narcotics addict, operator, owner, perfect usufruct, pillhead,
pothead, purchaser, right of use, snowbird, speed freak, tripper,
usufruct
"user" jargon "Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)"
user n. 1. Someone doing `real work' with the computer, using it as a
means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a computer. See real user. 2. A programmer who will believe anything you tell him. One who
asks silly questions. [GLS observes: This is slightly unfair. It is true
that users ask questions (of necessity). Sometimes they are thoughtful
or deep. Very often they are annoying or downright stupid, apparently
because the user failed to think for two seconds or look in the
documentation before bothering the maintainer.] See luser. 3. Someone
who uses a program from the outside, however skillfully, without getting
into the internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of just
going ahead and fixing them.
The general theory behind this term is that there are two classes of
people who work with a program: there are implementors (hackers) and
lusers. The users are looked down on by hackers to some extent because
they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in all its
glory. (The few users who do are known as `real winners'.) The term is a
relative one: a skilled hacker may be a user with respect to some
program he himself does not hack. A LISP hacker might be one who
maintains LISP or one who uses LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A
LISP user is one who uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus there is
some overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be
resolved by context.
"user" foldoc "The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)"
user
1. Someone doing "real work" with the computer, using
it as a means rather than an end. Someone who pays to use a
computer. A programmer who will believe anything you tell
him. One who asks silly questions without thinking for two
seconds or looking in the documentation. Someone who uses a
program, however skillfully, without getting into the
internals of the program. One who reports bugs instead of
just fixing them. See also luser, real user.
Users are looked down on by hackers to some extent because
they don't understand the full ramifications of the system in
all its glory. The term is relative: a skilled hacker may be
a user with respect to some program he himself does not hack.
A LISP hacker might be one who maintains LISP or one who uses
LISP (but with the skill of a hacker). A LISP user is one who
uses LISP, whether skillfully or not. Thus there is some
overlap between the two terms; the subtle distinctions must be
resolved by context.
2. Any person, organisation, process, device,
program, protocol, or system which uses a service provided
by others.
The term "client" (as in "client-server" systems) is
rather more specific, usually implying two processes
communicating via some protocol.
[Jargon File]
(1996-04-28)
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