Result from Foreign Dictionaries (3 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: background \back"ground`\, n. [Back, a. + ground.] [1913 Webster] 1. Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the {foreground}, or the ground in front. [1913 Webster] 2. (Paint.) The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures. [1913 Webster] Note: The distance in a picture is usually divided into foreground, middle distance, and background. --Fairholt. [1913 Webster] 3. Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings. [1913 Webster] 4. A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight. [1913 Webster] I fancy there was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance. --Mrs. Alexander. [1913 Webster] A husband somewhere in the background. --Thackeray. [1913 Webster] 5. The set of conditions within which an action takes place, including the social and physical conditions as well as the psychological states of the participants; as, within the background of the massive budget deficits of the 1980's, new spending programs had little chance of passage by the congress. [PJC] 6. The set of conditions that precede and affect an action, such as the social and historical precedents for the event, as well as the general background[5]; as, against the background of their expulsion by the Serbs, the desire of Kosovars for vengeance is understandable though regrettable. [PJC] 7. (Science) The signals that may be detected by a measurement which are not due to the phenomenon being studied, and tend to make the measurement uncertain to a greater or lesser degree. Specifically: (Physics) Electronic noise present in a system using electronic measuring instrument or in a telecommunications system, which may hide and which must be differentiated from the desired signal; also called background noise or {noise}. [PJC] 8. (Journalism) An agreement between a journalist and an interviewee that the name of the interviewee will not be quoted in any publication, although the substance of the remarks may be reported; -- often used in the phrase "on background". Compare {deep background}. [PJC] {To place in the background}, to make of little consequence. {To keep in the background}, to remain unobtrusive, inconspicuous or out of sight; -- of people. {deep background}, (Journalism) the status of an interview which must not be quoted in a publication, even without attribution. Compare {background}[8]. [1913 Webster +PJC] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: background n 1: a person's social heritage: previous experience or training; "he is a lawyer with a sports background" 2: the part of a scene (or picture) that lies behind objects in the foreground; "he posed her against a background of rolling hills" [syn: {background}, {ground}] 3: information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background of the incident" [syn: {background}, {background knowledge}] 4: extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and could hardly hear one another over the background signals" [syn: {background}, {background signal}] 5: relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of thunder in the background" 6: the state of the environment in which a situation exists; "you can't do that in a university setting" [syn: {setting}, {background}, {scope}] 7: (computer science) the area of the screen in graphical user interfaces against which icons and windows appear [syn: {background}, {desktop}, {screen background}] 8: scenery hung at back of stage [syn: {backdrop}, {background}, {backcloth}] v 1: understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his royal ancestry" [syn: {background}, {play down}, {downplay}] [ant: {foreground}, {highlight}, {play up}, {spotlight}] From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]: background n.,adj.,vt. [common] To do a task in background is to do it whenever {foreground} matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and to background something means to relegate it to a lower priority. ?For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing problem in background.? Note that this implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream ?back burner? (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (a tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an obstacle in creative work). Compare {amp off}, {slopsucker}. Technically, a task running in background is detached from the terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority); oppose {foreground}. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with {Unix}, but it appears to have been first used in this sense on OS/360.