whirlwind

whirlwind
/hwerrl"wind', werrl"-/, n.
1. any of several relatively small masses of air rotating rapidly around a more or less vertical axis and advancing simultaneously over land or sea, as a dust devil, tornado, or waterspout.
2. anything resembling a whirlwind, as in violent action or destructive force.
3. any circling rush or violent onward course.
4. reap the whirlwind, to suffer the penalties for one's misdeeds. Hos. 8:7.
adj.
5. like a whirlwind, as in speed or force: a whirlwind visit to New York.
v.i.
6. to move or travel quickly.
[1300-50; ME < ON hvirfilvindr; c. G Wirbelwind]
Syn. 5. headlong, breakneck, hasty, impulsive.

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 the first real-time computer—that is, a computer that can respond seemingly instantly to basic instructions, thus allowing an operator to interact with a “running” computer. It was built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) between 1948 and 1951. Whirlwind was designed and built by Jay Forrester (Forrester, Jay Wright) of MIT and Jan Aleksander Rajchman of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), who had come up with a new kind of memory based on magnetic cores that was fast enough to enable real-time operation.

Paul A. Freiberger Michael R. Swaine
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Whirlwind — Whirlwind, également appelé L’Homme toupie en français dans les publications Arédit/Artima ou Cyclone dans L’Intégrale Avengers de Marvel France, est un super vilain appartenant à l’univers de Marvel Comics. Il a été créé par Stan Lee et Jack… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Whirlwind — Whirl wind , n. [Cf. Icel. hvirfilvindr, Sw. hvirfvelvind, Dan. hvirvelvind, G. wirbelwind. See {Whirl}, and {Wind}, n.] [1913 Webster] 1. A violent windstorm of limited extent, as the tornado, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • whirlwind — ► NOUN 1) a column of air moving rapidly round and round in a cylindrical or funnel shape. 2) a very energetic or tumultuous person or process. 3) (before another noun ) very rapid and unexpected: a whirlwind romance. ● (sow the wind and) reap… …   English terms dictionary

  • whirlwind — [hwʉrl′wind΄, wʉrl′wind΄] n. [ME whirlwynd, prob. based on ON hvirfilvindr] 1. a current of air whirling violently upward in a spiral motion around a more or less vertical axis that has a forward motion 2. anything resembling a whirlwind, as in… …   English World dictionary

  • whirlwind — whirlwind, cyclone, typhoon, hurricane, tornado, waterspout, twister share the basic notion of a rotary motion of the wind. Whirlwind is applied to a small windstorm which begins with an inward and upward spiral motion of the lower air and is… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • whirlwind — mid 14c., from WHIRL (Cf. whirl) (v.) + WIND (Cf. wind) (n.), probably on model of O.N. hvirfilvindr …   Etymology dictionary

  • whirlwind — [adj] very fast cyclonic, hasty, headlong, hurricane, impetuous, impulsive, lightning, quick, rapid, rash, short, speedy, swift, tornado; concepts 588,798 Ant. slow …   New thesaurus

  • whirlwind — [[t](h)wɜ͟ː(r)lwɪnd[/t]] whirlwinds 1) N COUNT A whirlwind is a tall column of air which spins round and round very fast and moves across the land or sea. 2) N COUNT: usu sing, with supp, usu N of n You can describe a situation in which a lot of… …   English dictionary

  • Whirlwind — Der Whirlwind 1 im Computer History Museum, Kalifornien Der Whirlwind Computer (von engl. Whirlwind für Wirbelwind ) wurde von 1945 bis 1952 am Massachusetts Institute of Technology nach einem während des Zweiten Weltkrieges vergebenen Auftrag… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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