hardware
//ˈhɑɹdˌwɛɹ//
Definitions
1.Equipment.(informal)
- Smaller, turbocharged engines are one way to increase engine efficiency by 8 to 10 percent, but the extra hardware is expensive.
- It is one thing to see an intercooler as a simple entry in a textbook, but to witness the actual hardware as it crawled down the road was awe-inspiring.
- BOWEN: The monster trucks of Mars rovers, joke scientists, equipped with an array of sophisticated hardware to look for signs of water and answer scientists questions.
2.The part of a computer that is fixed and cannot be altered without replacement or physical modification; motherboard, expansion cards, etc.
- Hardware is the generally accepted colloquism for anything inside a computer other than an engineer.
3.Electronic equipment.
4.Fixtures, equipment, fasteners, tools, and devices used for general-purpose construction and repair of a structure or object. Also such equipment as sold as stock by a store of the same name, e.g. hardware store.
- He needed a hammer, nails, screws, nuts, bolts and other assorted hardware, so he went to the hardware store.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #3699
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English hardware; equivalent to hard + -ware; attested since the mid-15th century.