monitor

views updated Jun 27 2018

mon·i·tor / ˈmänətər/ • n. 1. an instrument or device used for observing, checking, or keeping a continuous record of a process or quantity: a heart monitor. ∎  a person operating such an instrument or device. ∎  a person who observes a process or activity to check that it is carried out fairly or correctly, esp. in an official capacity. ∎  a person who listens to and reports on foreign radio broadcasts and signals. ∎  a jointed nozzle from which water streams in any desired direction, used in firefighting and hydraulic mining. ∎  a raised section of roof running down the center of a railroad car, building, etc., providing light or ventilation; a clerestory. 2. a student with disciplinary or other special duties during school hours: show the hall monitor your pass. 3. a television receiver used in a studio to select or verify the picture being broadcast from a particular camera. ∎ a television that displays an image generated by a computer. ∎  a loudspeaker, esp. one used by performers on stage to hear themselves or in the studio to hear what has been recorded. 4. (also monitor lizard) a large tropical Old World lizard (genus Varanus, family Varanidae) with a long neck, narrow head, forked tongue, strong claws, and a short body. Monitors were formerly believed to give warning of crocodiles. 5. hist. a shallow-draft armored warship mounting one or two heavy guns for bombardment.• v. [tr.] observe and check the progress or quality of (something) over a period of time; keep under systematic review: equipment was installed to monitor air quality. ∎  maintain regular surveillance over: it was easy for the enemy to monitor his movements. ∎  listen to and report on (a foreign radio broadcast or a telephone conversation). ∎  check or regulate the technical quality of (a radio transmission or television signal).DERIVATIVES: mon·i·to·ri·al / ˌmänəˈtôrēəl/ adj.mon·i·tor·ship / ship/ n.

Monitor

views updated Jun 08 2018

MONITOR

MONITOR (Heb. כּׁחַ; lit. "strength"; av "chameleon"; jps: "land crocodile"), reptile included in the Pentateuch among the creeping things which are prohibited as food and whose dead bodies defile by contact (Lev. 11:30–39). The reference is to the Varanus griseus. It is the largest reptile found in Israel, with a length, including its long tail, of up to 4 ft. (1.20 m.). Feeding on reptiles and rodents, it is frequently found in the southern coastal belt, in the Negev, and in the Arabah. Alone of the reptiles in the country, it hibernates for six months in a burrow in the ground, and it is then that the Bedouin catch it, using it for medicinal purposes and eating its flesh, which the Greeks, who called it a land crocodile, believed granted immunization from poisoned arrows. It is usually hunted while in a torpid state, for when awake it is aggressive, defending itself by biting and lashing out with its powerful tail. The Septuagint and Vulgate identified the biblical ko'aḥ with the *chameleon.

bibliography:

Lewysohn, Zool, 223–4, no. 274; J. Feliks, The Animal World of the Bible (1962), 99. add. bibliography: Feliks, Ha-Tzome'aḥ, 241.

[Jehuda Feliks]

monitor

views updated May 17 2018

monitor former term for a shallow-draught warship mounting one or two heavy guns for bombardment, named for a vessel developed by Swedish engineer John Ericsson for the Union forces. In a letter of 1862 he said that he proposed to name the new battery Monitor on the ground that ‘The iron-clad intruder will thus prove a severe monitor [that is, something providing guidance to moral conduct] to those leaders [of the Southern rebellion].’

This prototype vessel engaged the Confederate ironclad Virginia in Chesapeake Bay in a battle that drew worldwide attention; after this a number of similar warships were built by the Union. The original Monitor, however, went down off Cape Hatteras in 1862.

monitor

views updated Jun 27 2018

monitor
1. A device that is used for checking the progress and operation of a system. A display and keyboard may be used in the roles of both a control console and a monitor. Display screens without keyboards may be used as remote monitors to allow the status of the system to be observed from remote locations.

2. Another name for supervisor, or even a complete operating system.

3. A programming construct devised by Hoare to allow controlled sharing of resources by otherwise asynchronous processes, and involving the provision of controlled passing of variables between the processes.

monitor

views updated May 23 2018

monitor Any of several species of powerful lizards that live in Africa, s Asia, Indonesia and Australia, including the komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). Most species are dull-coloured with yellow markings; many are semi-aquatic. Length: to 3m (10ft). Family Varanidae.

Monitor

views updated Jun 11 2018

Monitor (mon-i-ter) n. see quality assurance (tool).

monitor

views updated Jun 11 2018

monitor. Elevated section of a roof with openings at both sides for light and ventilation running its full length (as in a US railway-car or a factory).