▪ I. compile, v.
(kəmˈpaɪl)
Also 4–6 compyle.
[a. F. compile-r (14th c. in Godef.) to put together, collect; (commonly taken as):—L. compīlā-re to plunder, pillage, rob, steal, snatch together and carry off.
The history is by no means clear. In reference to literary ‘compiling’, compīlātor was applied reproachfully by rivals to Vergil, and this is commonly taken as = ‘plunderer’; but Isidore (a 640), in reference to this very circumstance, says ‘Compilator, qui aliena dicta suis permiscet, sicut solent pigmentarii in pila diversa mixta contundere’, where the etymological explanation ‘to mix in a mortar’, implies at least that no sense of ‘plunder’ any longer attached to the word. In med.L. Du Cange has compilatus = ‘exstructus’, said of an arch; Godef. has OF. compilé = ‘constructed, built’, of a palace, which seem also to point to some other derivation. Cf. branch II. below.]
I. With reference to literary work, and the like.
1. trans. To collect and put together (materials), so as to form a treatise; to collect into a volume.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ii. Prol. 24 Of hys storys þa wyll I Compyle, þat me-thynk mast lykly Tyl oure Matere accordande. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 b, Yf I had them compyled in one treatyse. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 7 Moses in his historie compileth the traditions of the fathers. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 215 The most select experiments compil'd together. 1880 L. Stephen Pope iii. 77 Compiling notes to the Iliad from Eustathius. |
2. To make, compose, or construct (a written or printed work) by arrangement of materials collected from various sources.
| 1375 [see compiling]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 77 Broþer Ranulf monk of Chestre compiled and made þis present cronicle. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 13, I wolde compyle A clere descrypcyoun..Of alle hyr feturys. c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Good Mann. (1570) F vj, If thou take vpon thee a coment to compile..on Ouid or Virgile. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 159 Osmun who compiled the Al⁓koran out of Mahomets loose paper. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 104 The twelve Apostles..are said to have compil'd their Creed in this place. 1748 W. Adams in Boswell Johnson viii, The French Academy..took forty years to compile their Dictionary. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 81 Cranmer..compiled a liturgy in English. |
† b. Predicated of the materials. Obs. rare.
| 1645 Milton Tetrach. (1851) 200, I omit many instances..which alone would compile a just volume. |
c. Computing. To produce (a machine-coded form of a program), orig. from existing subroutines but now from a source program in a high-level language; also, more commonly, to translate from a high-level source language into machine language, usu. by means of a program written for the purpose (see compiler 1 b).
| 1952 Proc. Assoc. Computing Machinery 1/2 UNIVAC compiled the program in one and one half minutes. 1960 Gregory & van Horn Automatic Data-Processing Systems viii. 273 After check-out, the final version of the program..can be compiled into the numerical code of the machine. 1960 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery III. 607/1 In December, 1958, a hand-coded version of Neliac compiled its first rudimentary code for the Remington Rank Univac Countess computer. 1961 Ibid. IV. 74 The method..for compiling Boolean expressions is an alternative to the usual method which would compile an object program that performs all logical operations indicated in the expression. 1961 IEEE Trans. Electronic Computers X. 561/3 A basic compiler for arithmetic expressions that will compile intermediate language programs from assignment statements and arithmetic expressions is described. 1972 M. D. Freedman Princ. Digital Computer Operation xi. 181 When the complete program has been compiled, the programmer can request that it be executed. 1976 M. Laver Introd. Uses of Computers vi. 113 When the source program is a long one..it will be compiled as a separate preliminary process; but short scientific programs may be compiled and run in a single load and go operation. 1979 M. S. Carberry et al. Found. Computer Sci. iii. 58 The internal program compiled by the computer is called the object program. 1982 Sci. Amer. Dec. 94/2 Fortran programs are compiled. |
† 3. To compose as original work (esp. a work of definite form or structure, e.g. a sonnet). Obs.
| 1475 Caxton Jason 114 b, I shal compyle an epistle. a 1500 Songs Costume (Percy Soc.) 54 This litel schort dyté, Rudely compyled, lat it be noon offence. 1509 (title) A Mornynge Remembraunce..Compyled by the Reuerent Fader in God, Johan Fisher Bysshop of Rochester. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 134 Longauile, Did neuer Sonnet for her sake compile. 1598 Marlowe Hero & L. i, Some, their violent passions to assuage, Compile sharp satires. |
† 4. To render (into another language); to translate. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 178/2 His passyon bede compyled out of greek in to latyn. 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 55 Googe, in translating and enlarging the most profitable worke of Heresbachius, hath deserued much commendation..for hys faythfull compyling and learned increasing the noble worke. |
II. In other senses.
[In some of these, evidently associated with pile to heap; but not necessarily derived therefrom: see note to the derivation.]
† 5. To heap together, pile up; to gather or form into a heap or mass. Obs.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 76 Nature hath boulstred the same [vein] with many Glandules compiled together. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 457 In this one portion of accusation, I doe perceave two severall crimes compyled together. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth ii. (1723) 80 The Strata are compil'd..every where after the very same Method. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Pit fall, Light straight Sticks..which you must compile one over another. 1812 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XXXIV. 318 Dung is collected for fuel, not compiled for manure. |
† 6. To construct by putting together materials; to make up, build. Obs.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 10 A brazen wall in compas to compyle About Cairmardin. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 185 Cloth compiled of Asses and Goats hair. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 79 Of such are compiled the present Buildings of the Town. |
† b. Predicated of the materials. Obs. Cf. 2 b.
| 1592 Greene Melicertus' Eclog. viii, Aurora brought her blush, the moon her white; Both so combin'd..Compil'd those pretty orbs [= her cheeks]. 1594 Spenser Amoretti lxxx, So long a race as I haue run Through Faery land, which those six bookes compile. |
† 7. To compose. Obs. rare—1.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ix. 17 When the prince had perfectly compylde These paires of friends in peace and setled rest. |
8. Cricket slang. To make, ‘pile up’, or ‘score’ (a number, esp. a large number, of runs).
| 1884 Times 5 Feb. 10/2 It was not until he had compiled 126 that he had the misfortune to play a ball on to his wicket. 1884 Daily News 16 Feb. 5/2 New South Wales ‘compiled’ (as the slang goes) 412. |
Hence comˈpiled ppl. a. (esp. in sense 2 c of the vb.).
| 1886 Athenæum 31 July 147/2 The value that would otherwise attach to the compiled information as to Canada. 1959 in W. W. Youden Computer Literature Bibliogr. 1946–63 (1965) 14 A Fortran-compiled list-processing language. 1968 Fox & Mayers Computing Methods for Scientists & Engineers ii. 26 Such operations may be available in basic machine language (though not in compiled languages). 1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xix. 325 The economically most important measure of a compiler's value..is usually the execution speed of the compiled programs. 1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 159/2 The compiled code can only be run from the command menu. |
▪ II. † comˈpile, n. Obs. rare—1.
Accumulation.
| 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinvile xxx, Saturns compile [rime exile] Of frantike discontentment. |