PROCESSOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does processor mean? 

• PROCESSOR (noun)
  The noun PROCESSOR has 3 senses:

1. a business engaged in processing agricultural products and preparing them for market

2. someone who processes things (foods or photographs or applicants etc.)

3. (computer science) the part of a computer (a microprocessor chip) that does most of the data processing

  Familiarity information: PROCESSOR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROCESSOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A business engaged in processing agricultural products and preparing them for market

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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

business; business concern; business organisation; business organization; concern (a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it)

Derivation:

process (subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who processes things (foods or photographs or applicants etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

worker (a person who works at a specific occupation)

Domain category:

photography; picture taking (the act of taking and printing photographs)

Derivation:

process (subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(computer science) the part of a computer (a microprocessor chip) that does most of the data processing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

C.P.U.; central processing unit; central processor; CPU; mainframe; processor

Context example:

the CPU and the memory form the central part of a computer to which the peripherals are attached

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

electronic equipment (equipment that involves the controlled conduction of electrons (especially in a gas or vacuum or semiconductor))

computer hardware; hardware ((computer science) the mechanical, magnetic, electronic, and electrical components making up a computer system)

Meronyms (parts of "processor"):

CPU board; mother board (the main circuit board for a computer)

Domain category:

computer science; computing (the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures)

Holonyms ("processor" is a part of...):

computer; computing device; computing machine; data processor; electronic computer; information processing system (a machine for performing calculations automatically)

Derivation:

process (perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information)

 Context examples 

The circuit board that contains most of the processor units.

(Logic Board Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Red spinach will give processors another choice, said ARS research geneticist Beiquan Mou, who developed the new variety.

(World's First True Red Spinach Variety Released, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Document management systems commonly provide check-in, check-out, storage and retrieval of electronic documents often in the form of word processor files and the like.

(Document Management System, NCI Thesaurus)

In addition, a crop that produces its own herbicide potentially would be more efficient—increasing profits for farmers and food processors.

(Transferring Sorghum’s Weed-Killing Power to Rice, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Model for high performance computing in which a problem is solved by multiple processors working cooperatively and simultaneously.

(Parallel Computing, NCI Thesaurus)