WordNet Dictionary- [n] a particular course of action intended to achieve a results; "the procedure of obtaining a driver's license"; "it was a process of trial and error"
- [n] a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant; "a bony process"
- [n] the performance of some composite cognitive activity; an operation that affects mental contents; "the process of thinking"; "the cognitive operation of remembering"
- [n] a mental process that you are not directly aware of; "the process of denial"
- [n] a writ issued by authority of law; usually compels the defendant's attendance in a civil suit; failure to appear results in a default judgment against the defendant
- [n] a sustained phenomenon or one marked by gradual changes through a series of states; "events now in process"; "the process of calcification begins later for boys than for girls"
- [v] subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition; "process cheese"; "process hair"; "treat the water so it can be drunk"; "treat the lawn with chemicals" ; "treat an oil spill"
- [v] perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information; "The results of the elections were still being processed when he gave his acceptance speech"
- [v] deliver a warrant or summons to someone; "He was processed by the sheriff"
- [v] shape, form, or improve a material; "work stone into tools"; "process iron"; "work the metal"
- [v] march in a procession; "They processed into the dining room"
- [v] deal with in a routine way; "I'll handle that one"; "process a loan"; "process the applicants"
- [v] institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against; "He was warned that the district attorney would process him"
Webster's 1913 Dictionary\Proc"ess\, n. [F. proc[`e]s, L. processus. See
{Proceed}.]
1. The act of proceeding; continued forward movement;
procedure; progress; advance. ``Long process of time.''
--Milton.
The thoughts of men are widened with the process of
the suns. --Tennyson.
2. A series of actions, motions, or occurrences; progressive
act or transaction; continuous operation; normal or actual
course or procedure; regular proceeding; as, the process
of vegetation or decomposition; a chemical process;
processes of nature.
Tell her the process of Antonio's end. --Shak.
3. A statement of events; a narrative. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
4. (Anat. & Zo["o]l.) Any marked prominence or projecting
part, especially of a bone; anapophysis.
5. (Law) The whole course of proceedings in a cause real or
personal, civil or criminal, from the beginning to the end
of the suit; strictly, the means used for bringing the
defendant into court to answer to the action; -- a generic
term for writs of the class called judicial.
{Deacon's process} [from H. Deacon, who introduced it]
(Chem.), a method of obtaining chlorine gas by passing
hydrochloric acid gas over heated slag which has been
previously saturated with a solution of some metallic
salt, as sulphate of copper.
{Final process} (Practice), a writ of execution in an action
at law. --Burrill.
{In process}, in the condition of advance, accomplishment,
transaction, or the like; begun, and not completed.
{Jury process} (Law), the process by which a jury is summoned
in a cause, and by which their attendance is enforced.
--Burrill.
{Leblanc's process} (Chem.), the process of manufacturing
soda by treating salt with sulphuric acid, reducing the
sodium sulphate so formed to sodium sulphide by roasting
with charcoal, and converting the sodium sulphide to
sodium carbonate by roasting with lime.
{Mesne process}. See under {Mesne}.
{Process milling}, the process of high milling for grinding
flour. See under {Milling}.
{Reversible process} (Thermodynamics), any process consisting
of a cycle of operations such that the different
operations of the cycle can be performed in reverse order
with a reversal of their effects.
Computing Dictionary1. The sequence of states of an executing program. A process consists of the program code (which may be shared with other processes which are executing the same program), private data, and the state of the processor, particularly the values in its registers. It may have other associated resources such as a process identifier, open files, cpu time limits, shared memory, child processes, and signal handlers.
One process may, on some platforms, consist of many threads. A multitasking operating system can run multiple processes concurrently or in parallel, and allows a process to spawn "child" processes.
2. The sequence of activities, people, and systems involved in carrying out some business or achieving some desired result. E.g. software development process, project management process, configuration management process.