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FIFO

American  
[fahy-foh] / ˈfaɪ foʊ /

noun

  1. first-in, first-out.

  2. Computers. a storage and retrieval technique, used mainly for data, in which the first item stored is also the first item retrieved.


FIFO British  
/ ˈfaɪfəʊ /

acronym

  1. first in, first out (as an accounting principle in costing stock) Compare LIFO

"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

Example Sentences

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FIFO, or "first-in, first-out," is a classic eviction algorithm developed in the 1960s.

From Science Daily Jan. 24, 2024

In 2002, Amazon changed the way it accounted for inventory, from the last-in first-out, or LIFO, system to first-in first-out, or FIFO.

From BusinessWeek Oct. 10, 2013

Thus it's called a FIFO, or First-In-First-Out, because the first thing you put in the pipe is the first thing to come out the other end.

From Debian GNU/Linux : Guide to Installation and Usage by Goerzen, John

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