console
Meanings
Plural: consoles
Noun
- a small table fixed to a wall or designed to stand against a wall
- a scientific instrument consisting of displays and an input device that an operator can use to monitor and control a system (especially a computer system)
- an ornamental scroll-shaped bracket (especially one used to support a wall fixture)
- "the bust of Napoleon stood on a console"
- housing for electronic instruments, as radio or television
- A stand-alone cabinet designed to stand on the floor; especially, one integrated with home entertainment equipment, such as a TV or stereo system.
- A desk-like cabinet, table, or stand upon which controls, instruments, and displays are mounted.
- An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
- The keyboard and screen of a computer or other electronic device.
- An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
- Abbreviation of video game console.
- An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
- A storage tray or container mounted between the seats of an automobile.
- An ornamental member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, often S-shaped.
- cantilever
- A decorative frame or support (in architecture, drawings, etc) around a heraldic shield.
Verb
- give moral or emotional strength to
- To comfort (someone) in a time of grief, disappointment, etc.
Origin / Etymology
Borrowed from French console (“bracket”, noun), from consoler (“to console, to comfort”, verb).
Sense of “bracket” either due to a bracket alleviating the load, or due to brackets being decorated with the Christian figure of a consolateur (“consoler”), itself perhaps a pun on the first sense (alleviating load).
Originally used for the bracket itself, then for wall-mounted tables (mounted with a bracket), then for free-standing tables placed against a wall. Use for control system dates at least to 1880s for an “organ console”; use for electrical or electronic control systems dates at least to 1930s in radio, television, and system control, particularly as “mixer console” or “control console”, attached to an equipment rack. This was popularized in computers by mainframes such as the IBM 704 (1954) in terms such as “operator’s console” or “console typewriter”, and then generalized to any attached equipment, particularly for user interaction. The automotive sense harks back to earlier use as “support”.
Scrabble Score: 9
console is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordconsole is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
console is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary