From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Delta \Del"ta\, n.; pl. {Deltas}. [Gr. de`lta, the name of the
fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (the capital form of
which is [Delta], Eng. D), from the Ph[oe]nician name of the
corresponding letter. The Greeks called the alluvial deposit
at the mouth of the Nile, from its shape, the Delta of the
Nile.]
1. The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet ([Delta] [delta]),
corresponding to {D}. Hence, an object having the shape of
the capital [Delta].
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. A tract of land shaped like the letter delta ([Delta]),
especially when the land is alluvial and inclosed between
two or more mouths of a river; as, the delta of the
Ganges, of the Nile, or of the Mississippi.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Elec.) The closed figure produced by connecting three
coils or circuits successively, end for end, esp. in a
three-phase system; -- often used attributively, as delta
winding, delta connection (which see), etc.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
delta
n 1: a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river
divides before entering a larger body of water; "the
Mississippi River delta"; "the Nile delta"
2: an object shaped like an equilateral triangle
3: the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet
From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
delta
n.
1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small or incremental one
(this use is general in physics and engineering). ?I just doubled the speed
of my program!? ?What was the delta on program size?? ?About 30 percent.?
(He doubled the speed of his program, but increased its size by only 30
percent.)
2. [Unix] A {diff}, especially a {diff} stored under the set of
version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control System) or RCS
(Revision Control System).
3. n. A small quantity, but not as small as {epsilon}. The jargon usage of
{delta} and {epsilon} stems from the traditional use of these letters in
mathematics for very small numerical quantities, particularly in
?epsilon-delta? proofs in limit theory (as in the differential calculus).
The term {delta} is often used, once {epsilon} has been mentioned, to mean
a quantity that is slightly bigger than {epsilon} but still very small.
?The cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta? means that the cost isn't totally
negligible, but it is nevertheless very small. Common constructions include
within delta of ?, within epsilon of ?: that is, ?close to? and ?even
closer to?.
From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2013) [vera]:
DELTA
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From French-English FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.3.4 [fd-fra-eng]:
delta /dɛlta/
delta
From Portuguese-English FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.1.1 [fd-por-eng]:
delta
delta
From Swedish-English FreeDict Dictionary ver. 0.1.1 [fd-swe-eng]:
delta
delta
From Dutch-English Freedict Dictionary ver. 0.1.3 [fd-nld-eng]:
delta /dɛlta/
delta
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