interpretive, a.
(ɪnˈtɜːprɪtɪv)
[f. interpret v. + -ive, after words in which t belongs to the L. ppl. stem, as assertive.]
a. = interpretative.
| 1680 Filmer Patriarcha iii. §15 (1884) 66 ‘Le roy le veult’ is the interpretive phrase. 1839 Bailey Festus xix. (1852) 284 Confounding text and comment, with no rule Interpretive. 1953 D. Cecil in W. de la Mare Private View p. vi, In his critical essays, Mr. de la Mare had not the scope for his interpretive genius to display itself so freely. 1955 Bull. Atomic Sci. June 218/3 There will be some 200 to 300 supplementary and interpretive books on atomic energy provided by American publishers. 1966 J. J. Katz Philos. of Lang. iv. 111 Both the phonological and semantic components are, therefore, purely interpretive. 1966 Meier & Elliott (title) From plantation to ghetto: an interpretive history of American negroes. 1969 A. B. Callow (title) American urban history: an interpretive reader with commentaries. 1970 A. Cameron et al. Computers & O.E. Concordances 107, I will admit that what follows will be interpretive. 1971 World Archaeol. III. 197 The field of interpretive functions which archaeologists call upon their pottery collections to sustain. 1973 Studies in Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 65 This is a highly controversial analysis, and has been much criticized by the so-called Interpretive Semanticists. |
b. Computers. Applied to a routine that executes a source program by translating each instruction into machine language and then executing it (by means of subroutines) before proceeding to the next instruction; of or pertaining to the operation of such a routine.
| 1951 M. V. Wilkes et al. Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Computer i. iv. 34 There are in the library a number of subroutines which, when called in, execute series of operations according to sets of parameters in the store... These subroutines are usually called in by the method used for the closed type, the parameter following the orders which call in the routine. The routines do, however, form a distinct class, and have been labelled ‘interpretive’. 1957 W. D. Bell Managem. Guide Electronic Computers viii. 148 The availability of already established libraries is an important consideration in selecting a data system. And then there are ‘interpretive routines’, ‘pseudo coding’, ‘compilers’, and many other specialized programming methods and techniques. 1964 F. L. Westwater Electronic Computers ix. 143 As the number of subroutines available increased..whole programs could be written without any machine code being necessary. The coded orders were read in and a special routine (called the interpretive program or ‘interpreter’) selected each required subroutine in turn. 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xix. 306 Nowadays, the interpretive systems are used mainly for simulating a computer B using another computer A with other programming characteristics. |
Hence inˈterpretively adv., inferentially.
| a 1665 J. Goodwin Filled w. the Spirit (1867) 285 To know..that God is able to enlighten..is interpretively or constructively to know that he hath a Spirit to give. |