dongle
[dong-guh l, dawng‐]
- a hardware device attached to a computer without which a particular software program will not run: used to prevent unauthorized use.
- Also called wire·less a·dap·ter. a device that can be plugged into a USB port to enable wireless access from a computer to an external Wi-Fi device, as a mobile phone, or to the Internet, via high-speed broadband, or to enable wireless connectivity in a printer or other peripheral.
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Origin of dongle
First recorded in 1980–85; probably an arbitrary coinage
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for dongle
Contemporary Examples
Out of the gate, the dongle currently supports just three major video platforms: YouTube, Netflix, and Google Play.
First, I plugged the 3-inch dongle into the HDMI input on the back of my TV, and plugged it into its power source.
dongle
- computing an electronic device that accompanies a software item to prevent the unauthorized copying of programs
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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