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client

[klahy-uh nt]
noun
  1. a person or group that uses the professional advice or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.
  2. a person who is receiving the benefits, services, etc., of a social welfare agency, a government bureau, etc.
  3. a customer.
  4. anyone under the patronage of another; a dependent.
  5. Computers. a computer or an application on a computer that communicates with a remote server: Exit the program before installing the patch to update the client.
  6. client state.
  7. (in ancient Rome) a plebeian who lived under the patronage of a patrician.
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adjective
  1. being a regular customer: a client company.
  2. economically, and often militarily, dependent upon a more prosperous, more powerful nation.
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Origin of client

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin client-, stem of cliēns person seeking the protection or influence of someone powerful; perhaps akin to clīnāre to bend (see incline)
Related formscli·en·tal [klahy-en-tl, klahy-uh n-tl] /klaɪˈɛn tl, ˈklaɪ ən tl/, adjectivenon·cli·ent, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for non-client

client

noun
  1. a person, company, etc, that seeks the advice of a professional man or woman
  2. a customer
  3. a person who is registered with or receiving services or financial aid from a welfare agency
  4. computing a program or work station that requests data or information from a server
  5. a person depending on another's patronage
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Derived Formscliental (klaɪˈɛntəl), adjective

Word Origin for client

C14: from Latin cliēns retainer, dependant; related to Latin clīnāre to lean
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

Word Origin and History for non-client

client

n.

late 14c., from Anglo-French clyent (c.1300), from Latin clientem (nominative cliens) "follower, retainer," perhaps a variant of present participle of cluere "listen, follow, obey" (see listen); or, more likely, from clinare "to incline, bend," from suffixed form of PIE root *klei- "to lean" (see lean (v.)).

The ground sense apparently is of one who leans on another for protection. In ancient Rome, a plebian under protection of a patrician (called patronus in this relationship; see patron); in English originally "a lawyer's customer," by c.1600 extended to any customer.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
non-client in Science

client

[klī′ənt]
  1. A program that runs on a personal computer or workstation connected to a computer network and requests information from a file server.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.