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

Across the U.S., retail employees have been sifting through state-issued flow charts, scanning product bar codes and checking ingredient lists across thousands of goods in stores.

From The Wall Street Journal

Over a half-century, in many cases, they experienced job-transforming technologies—bar codes at Target, robots at Ford Motor—and the diversifying of workforces as more women stepped onto and climbed the management ladder.

From The Wall Street Journal

The DMV has added a digital security signature to one of the two bar codes on the back of the cards.

From Los Angeles Times

For ticket inspections and to pass through barriers, the app will generate a bar code to scan.

From BBC