First recorded in 1990–95; named after Linu(s) Benedict Torvalds (born 1969), Finnish software engineer + x as in UNIX ( def. )
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the days before cloud computing and endless storage, Pixar kept hundreds of thousands of files on Unix and Linux computers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Surfshark covers all the major platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Fire TV and Apple TV.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
These prompts give Mythos just enough instruction to ensure different results each time it rifles through Linux looking for bugs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
It was worth it, and footage from the event shows her looking happy and tired on stage as she successfully hacked into a Linux based system to win $50,000.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
I’d begun writing for a new website, Slashdot.org, an intensely geeky techno/pop-culture site devoted to the open source Linux operating system and to the open source and free software movements.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
