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Cipher   /sˈaɪfər/   Listen
noun
Cipher  n.  
1.
(Arith.) A character (0) which, standing by itself, expresses nothing, but when placed at the right hand of a whole number, increases its value tenfold.
2.
One who, or that which, has no weight or influence. "Here he was a mere cipher."
3.
A character in general, as a figure or letter. (Obs.) "This wisdom began to be written in ciphers and characters and letters bearing the forms of creatures."
4.
A combination or interweaving of letters, as the initials of a name; a device; a monogram; as, a painter's cipher, an engraver's cipher, etc. The cut represents the initials N. W.
5.
A private alphabet, system of characters, or other mode of writing, contrived for the safe transmission of secrets; also, a writing in such characters. "His father... engaged him when he was very young to write all his letters to England in cipher."
Cipher key, a key to assist in reading writings in cipher.


verb
Cipher  v. t.  
1.
To write in occult characters. "His notes he ciphered with Greek characters."
2.
To get by ciphering; as, to cipher out the answer.
3.
To decipher. (Obs.)
4.
To designate by characters. (Obs.)


Cipher  v. i.  (past & past part. ciphered; pres. part. ciphering)  To use figures in a mathematical process; to do sums in arithmetic. "'T was certain he could write and cipher too."


adjective
Cipher  adj.  Of the nature of a cipher; of no weight or influence. "Twelve cipher bishops."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Cipher" Quotes from Famous Books



... to learn something, though little it be, Each day of her life,—something useful, you see: And in two or three years you will find she can spell, Read, cipher, and write, and do ...
— The Nursery, March 1878, Vol. XXIII. No. 3 - A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers • Various
... one more pretty thought in my head for having a gay ribbon on my hair. Use it, aunty, please, to buy me some new books, so I can enter the highest class in school when George Wild does. Mr. Grey says I can read and cipher as well as he, though I am not so ...
— Eventide - A Series of Tales and Poems • Effie Afton
... watery star hath been The shepherd's note since we have left our throne Without a burden: time as long again Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks; And yet we should, for perpetuity, Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher, Yet standing in rich place, I multiply With one we-thank-you many thousands more ...
— The Winter's Tale - [Collins Edition] • William Shakespeare
... did not take Bismarck long to find that at Frankfort the King of Prussia was but a cipher. Furthermore, what raised Bismarck's ire was the impotence of the Parliament. Frankfort had been unable to put down the blood-letting of '48, and Bismarck detested weakness of any kind, ...
— Blood and Iron - Origin of German Empire As Revealed by Character of Its - Founder, Bismarck • John Hubert Greusel
... his childhood. He learned to read, write, and cipher at a small school kept by Hobby, the sexton of the parish church. Among his playmates was Richard Henry Lee, who was afterward a famous Virginian. When the boys grew up, they wrote to each other of grave matters of war and state, but here is the beginning ...
— Children's Literature - A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes • Charles Madison Curry


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