process
Definitions
General English
- noun the method of making something
- verb to make goods from raw materials
- verb to deal with a claim or bill in the usual way
- verb to walk in a procession
General Science
- verb to deal with something in a particular way
- verb to produce something by treating a raw material in a factory
- verb to make a substance undergo a chemical reaction
- verb to carry out a number of tasks to produce a result such as sorting data or finding the solution to a problem
Agriculture
- verb to treat produce in a way that will make it keep longer or become more palatable
Aviation
- noun a series of actions or changes which achieve a particular result
Computing
- noun a number of tasks that must be carried out to achieve a goal
Electronics
- A sequence of steps, events, operations, functions, or the like, which leads to a given result. Also, the following of such a sequence.
- In computers, handling, manipulating, or otherwise operating on data, as occurs, for instance, when compiling, calculating, converting, generating, displaying, or transmitting. Also, the steps involved in such operations.
Food
- noun a technical or scientific action
- verb to treat food in a way so that it will keep longer or become more palatable
Information & Library Science
- verb to manipulate something into the required format
- verb to perform the necessary routines to a book before it can be borrowed, e.g. classifying, cataloguing, stamping, labelling and numbering
Law
- noun the way in which a court acts to assert its jurisdiction
- noun the writs issued by a court to summon a defendant to appear in court
- noun a legal procedure
Media Studies
- verb to treat light-sensitive film or paper with chemicals so that an image that is held there becomes visible
Medical
- noun a projecting part of the body
- verb to deal with a person or thing according to a standard procedure
- verb to examine or test samples
Politics
- noun a series of things which are done in order to achieve something
- verb to deal officially with a document or request
Origin & History of “process”
Latin prōcēdere meant ‘go forward’: it was a compound verb formed from the prefix prō- ‘forward’ and cēdere ‘go’ (source of English cede, concede, etc), and has given English proceed (14th c.) and procedure (17th c.). Its past participle prōcessus was used as a noun meaning ‘advance, progress, lapse of time’. this passed via Old French proces into English, where the notion of something ‘advancing during a period of time’ led in the 17th century to the word’s main modern sense ‘set of operations for doing something’. Procession (12th c.) comes from the Latin derivative prōcessiō.
