Digital Technology. a software program that can execute commands, reply to messages, or perform routine tasks, as online searches, either automatically or with minimal human intervention (often used in combination): a customer service chatbot to answer product questions.
a social media bot retweeting certain posts;
a customer service chatbot to answer product questions.
Informal. a robot.
botanical.
botanist.
botany.
bottle.
to scrounge or borrow
to scrounge (from); impose (on)
a scrounger
wanting to scrounge
he's on the bot for a cigarette
botanical
botany
the larva of a botfly, which typically develops inside the body of a horse, sheep, or man
any similar larva
informal a mild illness in humans
First recorded in 1985–90; bot 1 def. 2 first recorded in 1965–70; shortening of robot
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; akin to Dutch bot, Frisian dialect botten (plural); further origin unknown
First recorded in 1915–20; perhaps shortening of botfly
A bot is a computer program that imitates human activity online. Bots are especially good at doing repetitive tasks very quickly — much faster than a person possibly could. The word bot is shorthand for robot, and it can describe independently moving machines that perform tasks, like the bot vacuum cleaner that terrifies your cat. Online bots have also been programmed to do boring jobs, like mining data from the web or answering basic customer service questions. Most bots are benign (or even useful), but some are malicious, programmed to spread disinformation, spam, and computer viruses.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Over time, confusion about whether something is bot- or human-produced may depend not on the capabilities of the bot, but those of the humans in charge.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2023
For the tour, Plant will be teaming with Ticketmaster and its new bot- and scalper-fighting "Verified Fan" initiative recently employed by superstars including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 26, 2017
Cultural history of the U. S. bot- tled in crystal.
From Time Magazine Archive
But where there is a prolonged parasitic larval life, as with the bot- and warble-flies, the maggot, warm and well-fed within the body of its mammalian host, affords an appropriate wintering stage.
From The Life-Story of Insects by Carpenter, George H. (George Herbert)
Miss Herbey, Andre, his father, all had been forgotten, and from the bot- tom of my heart I repented of my cruel selfishness.
From The Survivors of the Chancellor by Verne, Jules
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
