BINARY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does binary mean? 

• BINARY (noun)
  The noun BINARY has 2 senses:

1. a system of two stars that revolve around each other under their mutual gravitation

2. a pre-compiled, pre-linked program that is ready to run under a given operating system; a binary for one operating system will not run on a different operating system

  Familiarity information: BINARY used as a noun is rare.

• BINARY (adjective)
  The adjective BINARY has 2 senses:

1. of or pertaining to a number system have 2 as its base

2. consisting of two (units or components or elements or terms)

  Familiarity information: BINARY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BINARY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A system of two stars that revolve around each other under their mutual gravitation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

binary; binary star; double star

Hypernyms ("binary" is a kind of...):

star ((astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior)

Instance hyponyms:

Aldebaran (the brightest star in Taurus)

Algol (the second brightest star in Perseus; the first known eclipsing binary)

Alpha Centauri; Rigil; Rigil Kent (brightest star in Centaurus; second nearest star to the sun)

Altair (double star 15.7 light years from Earth; the brightest star in the Aquila constellation)

Antares (the brightest star in Scorpius)

Epsilon Aurigae (the largest known star)

Procyon (the brightest star in Canis Minor)

Beta Orionis; Rigel (the brightest star in Orion)

Canicula; Dog Star; Sirius; Sothis (the brightest star in the sky; in Canis Major)

Vega (the brightest star in the constellation Lyra)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A pre-compiled, pre-linked program that is ready to run under a given operating system; a binary for one operating system will not run on a different operating system

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

binary; binary program

Context example:

the same source code can be compiled to produce different binaries for different operating systems

Hypernyms ("binary" is a kind of...):

computer program; computer programme; program; programme ((computer science) a sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute)

• BINARY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or pertaining to a number system have 2 as its base

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

a binary digit

Pertainym:

binary numeration system (a positional system of numeration that uses binary digits and a radix of two)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Consisting of two (units or components or elements or terms)

Context example:

the binary number system has two as its base

Similar:

multiple (having or involving or consisting of more than one part or entity or individual)

 Context examples 

These double star systems are called high-mass X-ray binaries.

(Chandra Samples Galactic Goulash, NASA)

Or it may be influenced by a tidal tug from the star's red dwarf binary companion (HR 4796B), located at least 54 billion miles from the primary star.

(Hubble Finds Huge System of Dusty Material Enveloping the Young Star HR 4796A, NASA)

The shape of MU69 is truly provocative, and could mean another first for New Horizons going to a binary object in the Kuiper Belt.

(New Horizons' Next Target Just Got a Lot More Interesting, NASA)

A prefix used in binary numeral system for denoting a quantity of two raised to the power of 60, which is equal to 1 152 921 504 606 846 976.

(Exbi, NCI Thesaurus)

Combined with data on the shapes of the surrounding cloud of dust, the scientists found 45 lonely stars, 19 binary star systems, and a further five that contained more than two stars.

(Our Sun Could Have Been Born With an Evil Twin Called "Nemesis", The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Segments DNA copy number data using circular binary segmentation to detect regions with abnormal copy number.

(caDNAcopy Analytic Service, NCI Thesaurus)

A binary digit, the smallest unit of storage.

(Bit, NCI Thesaurus)

An object that includes binary encoding of a picture, photo, image, graphic, sound, or video.

(Binary Object, NCI Thesaurus)

Base 64 is used when transmitting binary data through text-only media such as electronic mail.

(Base 64, NCI Thesaurus)

A binary relation such that an element a is related to an element b, and b is in turn related to an element c, but a is not related to c.

(Antitransitive Relationship, NCI Thesaurus)