Noun | 1. | ![]() Synonyms: procedure |
2. | process - a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states; "events now in process"; "the process of calcification begins later for boys than for girls" | |
3. | process - (psychology) the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents; "the process of thinking"; "the cognitive operation of remembering" | |
4. | process - a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant Synonyms: summons | |
5. | process - a mental process that you are not directly aware of; "the process of denial" Synonyms: unconscious process | |
6. | process - a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant; "a bony process" | |
Verb | 1. | process - deal with in a routine way; "I'll handle that one"; "process a loan"; "process the applicants" |
2. | process - subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition; "process cheese"; "process hair"; "treat the water so it can be drunk"; "treat the lawn with chemicals" ; "treat an oil spill" Synonyms: treat | |
3. | process - perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information; "The results of the elections were still being processed when he gave his acceptance speech" | |
4. | process - institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against; "He was warned that the district attorney would process him"; "She actioned the company for discrimination" | |
5. | process - shape, form, or improve a material; "work stone into tools"; "process iron"; "work the metal" | |
6. | process - deliver a warrant or summons to someone; "He was processed by the sheriff" | |
7. | process - march in a procession; "They processed into the dining room" Synonyms: march |
PROCESS, practice. So denominated because it proceeds or issues forth in
order to bring the defendant into court, to answer the charge preferred
against him, and signifies the writ or judicial means by which he is brought
to answer. 1 Paine, R. 368 Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.
2. In the English law, process in civil causes is called original
process, when it is founded upon the original writ; and also to distinguish
it from mesne or intermediate process, which issues pending the suit, upon
some collateral interlocutory matter, as, to summon juries, witnesses,, and
the like; mesne process is also sometimes put in contradistinction to final
process, or process of execution; and then it signifies all process which
intervenes between the beginning and end of a suit. 3 Bl. Com. 279.
3. In criminal cases that proceeding which is called a warrant, before
the finding of the bill, is termed process when issued after the indictment
has been found by the jury. Vide 4 Bl. Com. 319; Dalt. J. c. 193; Com. Dig.
Process, A 1; Burn's Dig. Process; Williams, J, Process; 1 Chit. Cr. Law,
338; 17 Vin. Ab. 585.
4. The word process in the 12th section of the 5th article of the
constitution of Pennsylvania, which provides that "the style of all process
shall be The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," was intended to refer to such
writs only as should become necessary to be issued in the course of the
exercise of that judicial power which is established and provided for in the
article of the constitution, and forms exclusively the subject matter of it.
3 Penna. R. 99.
PROCESS, rights. The means or method of accomplishing a thing.
2. It has been said that the word manufacture, (q.v.) in the patent
laws, may, perhaps, extend to a new process, to be carried on by known
implements, or elements, acting upon known substances, and ultimately
producing some other known substance, but producing it in a cheaper or more
expeditious manner, or of a better and more useful kind. 2 B. & Ald. 349.
See Perpigna, Manuel des Inventeurs, &c., c. 1; s. 5, Sec. 1, p. 22, 4th
ed.; Manufacture; Method.
PROCESS, MESNE, practice. By this term is generally understood any writ
issued in the course of a suit between the original process and execution.
2. By this term is also meant the writ or proceedings in an action to
summon or bring the defendant into court, or compel him to appear or put in
bail, and then to hear and answer the plaintiffs claim. 3 Chit. Pr. 140.
process - 1. One process may, on some platforms, consist of many threads. A multitasking operating system can run multiple processes concurrently or in parallel, and allows a process to spawn "child" processes. |