spooling
spooling Lexical Profile
spooling Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The computing process of placing data in a temporary buffer or storage area so that a slower peripheral device, such as a printer, can process it at its own speed while freeing the main processor for other tasks.
"Print spooling allows users to continue editing documents while a large file is slowly sent to the office printer."
The mechanical act or process of winding thread, wire, cable, or tape onto a cylindrical reel or bobbin.
"Automated spooling ensures that the copper wire is wound with uniform tension across the entire drum."
• verb
To wind or be wound onto or off a cylindrical reel or spool (present participle of spool).
"The technician spent the afternoon spooling fresh fiber-optic cable onto the heavy wooden drum."
To transfer data to a temporary buffer or queue for sequential processing by a peripheral device (present participle of spool).
"The server was busy spooling hundreds of monthly invoices to the network printer."
• Rhymes for spooling
Word Origin & Etymology
In computing, the noun and verb derive from the 1960s IBM acronym SPOOL ('Simultaneous Peripheral Operations On-Line'), which was deliberately chosen as a play on the mechanical action of winding magnetic tape onto a spool.