Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

desktop

[desk-top]
See more synonyms for desktop on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. small or compact enough to fit or be used on a desk: a desktop calendar.
Show More
noun
  1. the surface of a desk.
  2. Computers.
    1. Also called desktop computer.a computer that is not portable, often consisting of a CPU, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.Compare laptop.
    2. 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.
Show More

Origin of desktop

First recorded in 1925–30; desk + top1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

desktopPCformattingoutputtingtypesetting

Examples from the Web for desktop

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • 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.

British Dictionary definitions for desktop

desktop

noun
  1. the main screen display on a personal computer, from which windows may be opened and programs run
  2. (modifier) denoting a computer system, esp for word processing, that is small enough to use at a desk
Show More
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

n.

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.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper