console
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈkɒn.səʊl//
- United Kingdom/[ˈkɒn.sɒʊl]/
- United Kingdom//kənˈsəʊl//
- United States//ˈkɑn.soʊl//
- United States//kənˈsoʊl//
- Canada//ˈkɒn.soʊl//
A stand-alone cabinet designed to stand on the floor; especially, one integrated with home entertainment equipment, such as a TV or stereo system.
noun
- 1
A stand-alone cabinet designed to stand on the floor; especially, one integrated with home entertainment equipment, such as a TV or stereo system.
The film's music blared from the console.
- 2
A desk-like cabinet, table, or stand upon which controls, instruments, and displays are mounted.
- 3
An instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system.
The operating console of the new Glasgow Central cabin is divided into four sections, each at an angle to each other and each of which is normally under one signalman's control; [...]
- 4
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.
- 5
A storage tray or container mounted between the seats of an automobile.
Could you put my phone in the centre console?
- 6
An ornamental member jutting out of a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, often S-shaped.
- 7
A cantilever.
- 8
A decorative frame or support (in architecture, drawings, etc) around a heraldic shield.
On an attractive console with two winged putti as supporters [...] is a marriage coat of arms : Dexter, the Paoli arms : Gules (base), a bend azure charged with five lilies gules, and or (chief); Sinister, the[…]
The only authentic reference for the tincture of the shield still in existence is the armorial console in Jacques Coeur's chapel[…]
- 9
Variant of video game consoleAn instrument with displays and an input device that is used to monitor and control an electronic system. Ellipsis of video game console.
Consoles continue to gain traction in the video game market.
I rarely play FPS on a PC these days. I'm lazy and it's just so much easier to stick on Halo or Modern Warfare 2 on a console. Plus after a day in front of a PC I don't necessarily want to spend an evening in front of one.
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”.
verb
- 1
To comfort (someone) in a time of grief, disappointment, etc.
However, she contained herself as best she might, consoled by the reflection that her reasoning had been justified by events.
Etymology
Borrowed from French consoler, from Latin cōnsōlor (“to console, offer solace”), root from Proto-Indo-European *selh₂- (“mercy, comfort”) (whence also solace).
Forms
- plural
- consoles
- past tense
- consoled
- past participle
- consoled
- present participle
- consoling
- third person singular
- consoles
console · A stand-alone cabinet designed to stand on the floor; especially, one integrated with home entertainment equipment, such as a TV or stereo system.
consort · The spouse of a monarch.Consort · A village in Alberta, Canada.conspicuous · Obvious or easy to notice.