Babbage

[ bab-ij ]

/ ˈbæb ɪdʒ /

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noun

Charles, 1792–1871, English mathematician: invented the precursor of the modern computer.

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Words nearby Babbage

babalas, Babar, Babashoff, babassu, babassu oil, Babbage, babbitt, Babbitt metal, Babbittry, babble, babbler

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use Babbage in a sentence

In 1821, Babbage had the idea for his first Difference Engine, the predecessor of the modern computer.
Great Weekend Reads|The Daily Beast|March 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Babbage never had the chance to complete his groundbreaking calculating machine.
Great Weekend Reads|The Daily Beast|March 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Eventually, as Babbage's vision grew ever more expansive, the government invested over £17,000 ($28,000).
Great Weekend Reads|The Daily Beast|March 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Babbage, Herschel, Whewell, and Jones set out on massive projects to collect and make sense of vast data sets.
Great Weekend Reads|The Daily Beast|March 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST

And Babbage dreamed up a machine that could churn through and make sense of this information.
Great Weekend Reads|The Daily Beast|March 5, 2011|DAILY BEAST
There's the widow Babbage, down to Dock: she always had a hankering for you.
The Adventures of Harry Revel|Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Man's name was Babbage, and they hadn't been married six months afore he tumbled into a brine-vat and was drowned.
The Adventures of Harry Revel|Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Mr Babbage makes a very useless parade here of his calculating machine.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845|Various
Mr. Babbage good-humouredly observed that, thus far, he had been very much out of pocket with it.
The Uses of Astronomy|Edward Everett
Economy of time, which Babbage accounts a separate economy, is rightly included in the economies just named.
The Evolution of Modern Capitalism|John Atkinson Hobson

British Dictionary definitions for Babbage

Babbage

/ (ˈbæbɪdʒ) /

noun

Charles 1792–1871, English mathematician and inventor, who built a calculating machine that anticipated the modern electronic computer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Babbage

Babbage

[ băb′ĭj ]

Charles 1792-1871

British mathematician who is considered a pioneer of computer science. In 1837 Babbage described an idea for the analytical engine, a machine that could be programmed with punched cards to perform complex calculations. Although Babbage never finished building the analytical engine, his idea is recognized as the forerunner of the modern computer.