DATA • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Data

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/dˈeɪtə/ /dˈætə/ Listen

noun

Datum n. (pl. data)

1.

Something given or admitted; a fact or principle granted; that upon which an inference or an argument is based; used chiefly in the plural. "Any writer, therefore, who... furnishes us with data sufficient to determine the time in which he wrote."

2.

A single piece of information; a fact; especially a piece of information obtained by observation or experiment; used mostly in the plural.

3.

pl. (Math.) The quantities or relations which are assumed to be given in any problem.

4.

(Surveying) A point, line, or level surface used as a reference in measuring elevations.

Datum line (Surv.), the horizontal or base line, from which the heights of points are reckoned or measured, as in the plan of a railway, etc.

Data n. pl.

1.

See Datum.

2.

A collection of facts, observations, or other information related to a particular question or problem; as, the historical data show that the budget deficit is only a small factor in determining interest rates. Note: The term in this sense is used especially in reference to experimental observations collected in the course of a controlled scientific investigation.

3.

(Computers) Information, most commonly in the form of a series of binary digits, stored on a physical storage medium for manipulation by a computer program. It is contrasted with the program which is a series of instructions used by the central processing unit of a computer to manipulate the data. In some conputers data and execuatble programs are stored in separate locations.

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Etymology of 'Data'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Data" Quotes from Famous Books

... more definite chronological information would be a very desirable thing, yet I am of opinion that the little chronological data we have give us a fair amount of help in forming a general notion about the growth and development of the different systems by mutual association and conflict. If the condition of the development of philosophy in India had been the same as in Europe, definite chronological ...

— A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. 1 • Surendranath Dasgupta

... through the crowd. They were directing their steps to an unpainted wooden structure at one end of the field. This building was equipped with various instruments for recording time accurately. From it also would presently be given out the wind velocity and any other data ...

— The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise • Margaret Burnham

... setting forth his ethnological theory that the American Indians were the descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Before we dismiss his theory with a smile, let us remember that he had not at his disposal the data now available which reveal points of likeness in custom, language formation, and symbolism among almost all primitive peoples. The formidable title-page of his book in itself suggests an author keenly observant, accurate as to detail, and ...

— Pioneers of the Old Southwest - A Chronicle of the Dark and Bloody Ground • Constance Lindsay Skinner

... had been taken without the waste of a cartridge and placed under the Verkleur. Looting operations, it was said, were being carried out on an extensive scale, and property was being destroyed. Such was the local estimate of Boer shortcomings—based on flimsy data, or no data at all. In Kimberley, we only laughed at looting, and if the Boers effected an entrance we had no objection to the exercise of their talent for vandalism. We said so; because we were profoundly confident ...

— The Siege of Kimberley • T. Phelan

... else's sketch, it would be, nevertheless, entirely from his own experience of ruined walls: and though he would draw ancient shipping (for an imitation of Vandevelde, or a vignette to the voyage of Columbus) from such data as he could get about things which he could no more see with his own eyes, yet when, of his own free will, in the subject of Ilfracombe, he, in the year 1818, introduces a shipwreck, I am perfectly certain that, ...

— The Harbours of England • John Ruskin

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