Spool
Pronunciation: spŌld
| n. | 1. | A piece of cane or reed with a knot at each end, or a hollow cylinder of wood with a ridge at each end, used to wind thread or yarn upon.
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| v. t. | 1. | To wind on a spool or spools. | |||
| Noun | 1. |  spool - a winder around which thread or tape or film or other flexible materials can be wound |
| Verb | 1. | spool - transfer data intended for a peripheral device (usually a printer) into temporary storage |
| 2. | spool - wind onto a spool or a reel |
| 1. | (operating system) | SPOOL - Acronym for Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line; but see also spool. | |
| 2. | (language) | Spool - An object-oriented logic programming language. ["An Experience with a Prolog Based Language", K. Fukunaga et al, SIGPLAN Notices 21(11):224-231 (Nov 1986) (OOPSLA '86)]. | |
| 3. | (operating system) | spool - To send files to some device or program (a
"spooler" or demon) that puts them in a queue for later
processing of some kind. Without qualification, the spooler
is the "print spooler" controlling output of jobs to a
printer; but the term has been used in connection with other
peripherals (especially plotters and graphics devices) and
occasionally even for input devices. The term "SPOOL" has been attributed to IBM as an acronym for Simultaneous Peripheral Operation On-Line but it's widely thought to have been contrived for effect. |