desk-top
(ˈdɛsktɒp)
Also desktop, (sense A. 1) desk top.
[f. desk n. + top n.1]
A. n.
1. The top or working surface of a desk.
| 1929 D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xiii. 144 He..returned his feet to the desk-top. 1935 R. Stout League of Frightened Men xi. 137 What we are displaying on this desk-top is the soul of a man. 1959 W. Miller Canticle for Leibowitz (1960) xiv. 153 His hard breathing swept a clean spot in the film of desert dust on the desktop. 1960 Design July 56 Several basic broad desk tops, pedestals, panels. |
2. A desk-top computer. colloq.
| 1983 Austral. Personal Computer Sept. 69/2 The trend was for lower profile Winchester hard disk drives for the emerging desk-top and portable markets. 1985 Personal Computer World Feb. 13 (Advt.), If you use an hp-150 pc, ibm pc, xt or an ibm compatible you will be glad to know that the desktop and the Portable can talk to each other. 1987 Times 10 Feb. 24/1 (heading) A super desktop run by battery. |
B. attrib.
1. Suitable for use at or on a desk; spec. designating microcomputers and peripheral devices of this kind and software for them.
| 1958 Computer Jrnl. I. 101/2 The majority of design procedures..in use..were developed when ‘desk top’ methods of calculating were all that was available. 1965 New Society 7 Jan. 4/2 ‘Nice guys don't win’ has not yet been issued as a desktop slogan for executives. 1965 [see calculator 2 c]. 1968 Daily Tel. 12 Nov. 22/6 Desk-top computers for use in homes..may be made possible by an invention described today. 1970 Nature 11 Apr. 140/1 The straight line of Fig. 1 resulted from a least squares fit to the data, with a desk-top computer. 1982 ICL News Nov. 1/1 The recently introduced DRS 20 model 20 and 25 desk-top terminals..offer managers direct access to the computer network. 1984 Sunday Times 14 Oct. 24/3 (Advt.), The new Canon PC70 desktop reader-printer produces clear crisp images. 1985 Neat Ideas Mail Order Catal. Spring 10 The Literature Organiser can be used either as a desk top sorter or built up in units with interlocking clips. |
2. desk-top publishing, the production of printed matter similar in quality to that of typeset books by means of a printer (such as a laser printer) linked to a desk-top computer; so desk-top publisher.
| 1984 Financial Times 3 Sept. 8/2 When Xerox looked for a new way to market its revolutionary but commercially unsuccessful ‘Star’ workstation.., it settled on what it called a ‘document creation system’ — in other words, a desk-top publishing unit. 1986 Observer 14 Sept. 41/5 Desktop publishing in one form or another has been a commercial possibility for some years. 1986 Australian 14 Oct. 42/4 Even commercial desk-top publishers who use the Mac-Laserwriter combination often paste graphics into gaps left in the typeset text. |
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Add: [A.] 3. Computing. The working area of a computer screen regarded as a representation of a notional desktop and containing icons representing items such as files and a waste bin, used analogously to the items they symbolize.
| 1982 Byte Apr. 256/1 Every user's initial view of Star is the ‘Desktop’, which resembles the top of an office desk. Ibid. 256/3 You can move the icons around to arrange your Desktop as you wish. 1986 PC Mag. 25 Feb. 110/1 A shell that turns your display into a menu-oriented ‘desktop’ for selecting and running PC applications. 1990 MacWeek 24 Apr. 51/1 It lets you organize files by arranging icons inside windows or on the desktop, sorting alphabetically or chronologically. 1991 Personal Computer World Feb. 237/1 Windows on screen could not be overlapped, effectively removing the advantage of displaying several windows on the desktop. |