log
Definitions
General English
- noun a thick piece of a tree
- noun the organisation of the movement of large numbers of people and things such as vehicles and supplies
General Science
- noun a full record of a set of actions or events
- noun a large piece of wood cut from the trunk or from a main branch of a tree
- verb to cut down trees for their wood as a commercial activity
Aviation
- noun a written record of a flight, flying hours, maintenance checks, etc., for an aircraft, engine or propeller
- verb to write an entry in a log book or on a log sheet
Commerce
- verb to write down all that happens
- noun the task or science of managing the movement, storage, and processing of materials and information in a supply chain
Computing
- noun a record of computer processing operations
- verb to record a series of actions
- verb to make a connection and start using a remote device such as a network server
Electronics
- A record kept of the activity or performance of a device, piece of equipment, or system. Also, to record such activity or performance.
- A record of computer and/or network activity. Used, for example, to find the origin of problems, monitor usage, recover data, or to identify unauthorized access. Also called electronic log, electronic journal, or journal.
Media Studies
- noun a recording of all a radio station’s output, in case of legal disputes.
- noun a note of all pieces of music broadcast so that royalties can be paid
Military
- noun the official diary of a ship
- noun a record of journeys, maintenance, repairs, etc., for an aircraft, piece of equipment or vehicle
- verb to make a chronological record of something
- abbreviation forlogistics
- noun the coordination of the supplying and resupplying of military units with the resources which they need in order to carry out their operational tasks (ammunition, equipment, food and water, fuel, medical facilities, replacement men and equipment, spare parts, transport, etc.)
Slang
- noun a lazy, inert person
- noun a surfboard. The term was defined in Just Seventeen magazine in January 1994.
Information & Library Science
- plural noun the organisation of something very complicated, especially of moving people and things from one place to another
Origin & History of “log”
Log is a mystery word. It first turns up (in the sense ‘felled timber’) towards the end of the 14th century, but it has no ascertainable relatives in any other language. Nor is it altogether clear how the sense ‘ship’s record’ came about. It was inspired by the use of log for a thin piece of wood floated in the water from a line to determine the speed of a ship, but some etymologists have speculated that this is not the same word as log ‘piece of timber’, but was adapted from Arabic lauh ‘tablet’.
