dongle

[dong-guh l, dawng‐]

noun Digital Technology.

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.

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 of dongle

Out of the gate, the dongle currently supports just three major video platforms: YouTube, Netflix, and Google Play.
Google Chromecast Enables Web Streaming Over Television
Brian Ries
July 30, 2013
First, I plugged the 3-inch dongle into the HDMI input on the back of my TV, and plugged it into its power source.
Google Chromecast Enables Web Streaming Over Television
Brian Ries
July 30, 2013

British Dictionary definitions for dongle

dongle

noun

computing an electronic device that accompanies a software item to prevent the unauthorized copying of programs

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