hub
Definitions
General English
- noun the centre of some activity, especially business activity
- noun a central airport, where domestic flights connect with international flights
Aviation
- noun a major airport where international or long-distance flights take off and land
Cars & Driving
- noun the central part of any wheel, by which the wheel is attached to or rotatable on a shaft or axle
Computing
- noun the central part of a disk, usually with a hole and ring which the disk drive grips to spin the disk
- noun the central ring or wiring cabinet where all circuits meet and form an electrical path for signals
Construction
- The central core of a building, usually the area into which stairs and/ or elevators are incorporated, and from which hallways or corridors emanate.
- The usually strengthened central part of a wheel, gear, propeller, etc.
- The end of a pipe enlarged into a bill or socket.
- A rotating piece within a lock, through whose central aperture the knob spindle passes to actuate the mechanism.
- In surveying, a stake designating a theodolite position.
- caulking or cement connections between pipe joints.
Electronics
- The center part of something. For example, the center part of a fan, wheel, tape reel, or disk.
- A central unit which provides connectivity between two or more devices in a communications network. A hub may be active or passive, but does not provide switching or routing. Used, for instance, in a star network.
Media Studies
- noun a control room in a television studio that is dealing with a very large number of outside feeds, e.g. for a special event
Origin & History of “hub”
Hub is one of those words that emerge unheralded from the undergrowth of language, its forbears uncertain. It seems originally to have meant ‘lump’, and is probably ultimately the same word as hob (16th c.). this was at first spelled hub and may have denoted a lump of clay used as a bakestone, or a brick or clay projection at the back of a fire on which things were placed to keep warm. And hobnail (16th c.) is etymologically a nail with a large ‘lumpy’ head.
