desktop

[desk-top]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR desktop ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

small or compact enough to fit or be used on a desk: a desktop calendar.

noun

the surface of a desk.

Computers.

Also called desktop computer.a computer that is not portable, often consisting of a CPU, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.Compare laptop.
the primary display screen of a graphical user interface, on which various icons represent files, groups of files, programs, or the like, which can be moved, accessed, added to, put away, or thrown away in ways analogous to the handling of file folders, documents, notes, etc., on a real desk.

Origin of desktop

First recorded in 1925–30; desk + top¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for desktop

PC, formatting, outputting, typesetting

Examples from the Web for desktop

Contemporary Examples of desktop

You can download the Kindle App for free on your desktop or laptop computer, smart phone or tablet.
The Stacks: The Day ‘The Big Lebowski’ Came to Life
Alex Belth
July 26, 2014
They feature custom wallpaper, system sounds, and desktop icons for My Computer, Recycle Bin, and Network Neighborhood.
Homestar Runner, Trogdor the Burninator, and the Birth of the Internet
Rich Goldstein
April 22, 2014
I like to see my desktop covered with face-up yellow pages drying like paintings in the sun.
Allan Gurganus: How I Write
Noah Charney
October 16, 2013
Up comes a little box on the desktop from gogoinflight inviting me to follow them out into the cyber universe.
Errors in the Field
Michael Tomasky
April 24, 2013
Especially since the tech boom, which has brought a wealth of new tools to even the amateur investor's desktop.
Just How Wise is the Sage of Omaha?
Megan McArdle
December 6, 2012

Historical Examples of desktop

Suddenly he gasped, and jabbed one of the many buttons that patterned his desktop.
A Knyght Ther Was
Robert F. Young
The three microcards and the order itself appeared simultaneously on the desktop viewer of the Star Watch personnel officer.
The Dueling Machine
Benjamin William Bova
The beneficiary rose to his feet, seeming not to see the hand the old Judge had extended across the desktop toward him.
From Place to Place
Irvin S. Cobb
He crested the desktop and joined his brother in ferrying out more parts.
Makers
Cory Doctorow
Plug them in and they show up on your desktop like a little hard drive.
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
Cory Doctorow

British Dictionary definitions for desktop

desktop

noun

the main screen display on a personal computer, from which windows may be opened and programs run

(modifier) denoting a computer system, esp for word processing, that is small enough to use at a desk

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

Word Origin and History for desktop

1929, from desk + top. As an adjective meaning "suitable for use on a desktop," it is recorded from 1958 (in reference to computers). As a shortening of desktop computer, recorded from 1983. Desktop publishing recorded from 1984.