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barcode

or bar code

[bahr-kohd]
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noun
  1. a series of lines of varying width, printed, as on a container or product, that can be read by an optical scanner to determine charges for purchases, destinations for letters, etc.Compare Universal Product Code.
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verb (used with object), bar·cod·ed, bar·cod·ing.
  1. to put a barcode on.
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Origin of barcode

1970–75; bar1 (in the sense of “a band or strip”) + code
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for bar code

bar code

noun
  1. commerce a machine-readable arrangement of numbers and parallel lines of different widths printed on a package, which can be electronically scanned at a checkout to register the price of the goods and to activate computer stock-checking and reorderingAlso called: Universal Product Code, UPC
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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
bar code in Culture

bar code

A series of parallel lines that can be read by an optical scanner and decoded by a computer into usable information. The ten-line Universal Product Code (UPC) on the packaging of retail items is an example of this. The key to this code is the variation in line thickness and separation.

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.