login

[ noun lawg-in, log-; verb lawg-in, log- ]

nounAlso log-in; log·on [lawg-on, -awn, log-] /ˈlɔgˌɒn, -ˌɔn, ˈlɒg-/ .
  1. the act of logging in to a database, mobile device, or computer, especially a multiuser computer or a remote or networked computer system: The program records the time of each login.

  2. a username and password that allows a person to log in to a computer system, network, mobile device, or user account:I’ve forgotten my login again!

verb (used without object)
  1. log in: Login with your new password.

Origin of login

1
First recorded in 1965–70

usage note For login

Many who are neither professionals in the computer field nor amateur tech enthusiasts condemn the use of the solid form login as a verb, and with good reason. It doesn’t behave like a normal verb. You cannot say you have loginned, and you are never in the process of loginning. Moreover, you cannot even ask someone to login you; you must ask that person to log you in. Clearly, it is the two-word phrase log in that functions fully as an English verb, not the solid form. Normally, we would expect the verb phrase log in and the noun login to behave in the same way as similar pairs: blow out/blowout, crack down/crackdown, hang up/hangup, splash down/splashdown, turn off/turnoff, where the two-word phrase is a verb and the one-word form is a noun.
And yet, this gluing together of terms like login, logon, backup, and setup as verbs is common, especially in writing about computers. Not for everyone, though; some well-known software companies, for example, carefully maintain the distinction in their programs and documentation. The wisest course is to find out what the standard is among those for whom you’re writing, and follow it.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for log in

log in

/ computing /


verb
  1. Also: log on to enter (an identification number, password, etc) from a remote terminal to gain access to a multiaccess system

noun
  1. Also: login the process by which a computer user logs in

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with login

login

Also, log on. Enter into a computer the information needed to begin a session, as in I logged in at two o'clock, or There's no record of your logging on today. These expressions refer especially to large systems shared by numerous individuals, who need to enter a username or password before executing a program. The antonyms are log off and log out, meaning “to end a computer session.” All these expressions derive from the use of log in the nautical sense of entering information about a ship in a journal called a log book. [c. 1960]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.