bar code

British  

noun

1. Also called: Universal Product Code.   UPC.  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 reordering

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bar code Cultural  

1. 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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Example Sentences

The Montreal resident uses an app called Nuj that has him scan the bar code on a shampoo bottle in his bathroom.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026

Mr Jack said on Sunday there would be a single bar code system and membership of just one scheme would be needed instead of multiple schemes so there would be no extra costs.

From BBC • Jun. 5, 2023

That DNA will act as a kind of minuscule bar code, nestling amid the puffy fibers as they are shuttled to factories in India.

From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2023

How big a portion of our lives are we willing to turn over to a monthly fee and a bar code?

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2023

They both say Craig Gilner, and have my Social Security number and a bar code on them.

From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini