acme

7 definitions found

acme - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  acme \ac"me\ ([a^]k"m[-e]), n. [Gr. 'akmh` point, top.]
     1. The top or highest point; the culmination.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The very acme and pitch of life for epic poetry.
                                                    --Pope.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The moment when a certain power reaches the acme of
              its supremacy.                        --I. Taylor.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Med.) The crisis or height of a disease. AS
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Mature age; full bloom of life. --B. Jonson.
        [1913 Webster]

acme - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  acme
      n 1: the highest level or degree attainable; the highest stage
           of development; "his landscapes were deemed the acme of
           beauty"; "the artist's gifts are at their acme"; "at the
           height of her career"; "the peak of perfection"; "summer
           was at its peak"; "...catapulted Einstein to the pinnacle
           of fame"; "the summit of his ambition"; "so many highest
           superlatives achieved by man"; "at the top of his
           profession" [syn: acme, height, elevation, peak,
           pinnacle, summit, superlative, meridian, tiptop,
           top]
      2: the highest point (of something); "at the peak of the
         pyramid" [syn: vertex, peak, apex, acme]

acme - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  ACME
  
     <company, jargon> /ak'mee/ 1. A Company that Makes Everything.
     The canonical imaginary business.  Possibly also derived
     from the word "acme" meaning "highest point".
  
     2. A program for MS-DOS.
  
     [What does it do?]
  
     (1994-11-08)
  

acme - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  Acme
   n.
  
     [from Greek akme highest point of perfection or achievement] The
     canonical supplier of bizarre, elaborate, and non-functional gadgetry
     -- where Rube Goldberg and Heath Robinson (two cartoonists who
     specialized in elaborate contraptions) shop. The name has been
     humorously expanded as A (or American) Company Making Everything. (In
     fact, Acme was a real brand sold from Sears Roebuck catalogs in the
     early 1900s.) Describing some X as an "Acme X" either means "This is
     insanely great", or, more likely, "This looks insanely great on
     paper, but in practice it's really easy to shoot yourself in the foot
     with it." Compare pistol.
  
     This term, specially cherished by American hackers and explained here
     for the benefit of our overseas brethren, comes from the Warner
     Brothers' series of "Road-runner" cartoons. In these cartoons, the
     famished Wile E. Coyote was forever attempting to catch up with,
  trap,
     and eat the Road-runner. His attempts usually involved one or more
     high-technology Rube Goldberg devices -- rocket jetpacks, catapults,
     magnetic traps, high-powered slingshots, etc. These were usually
     delivered in large wooden crates labeled prominently with the Acme
     name -- which, probably not by coincidence, was the trade name of the
     animation rotation board used by cartoonists since forever. Acme
     devices invariably malfunctioned in improbable and violent ways.
  

acme - V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2006) :

  ACME
         A Company that Makes Everything (slang)
         

acme - U.S. Gazetteer (1990) :

  Acme, LA
    Zip code(s): 71316
  Acme, PA
    Zip code(s): 15610
  Acme, WA
    Zip code(s): 98220
  Acme, WY
    Zip code(s): 82839

acme - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  127 Moby Thesaurus words for "acme":
     Olympian heights, acme of perfection, aerial heights, all, apex,
     apogee, apotheosis, authority, authorization, be-all and end-all,
     beau ideal, best type, blue ribbon, brow, cap, capstone, ceiling,
     championship, climax, cloud nine, command, consummation, control,
     crest, crown, culmen, culmination, cynosure, directorship,
     dizzy heights, dominion, edge, effectiveness, ego ideal, elevation,
     eminence, end, ether, extreme, extreme limit, extremity,
     first place, first prize, headship, heaven, heavens, hegemony,
     height, heights, hero, high noon, highest, highest degree,
     highest pitch, highest point, ideal, imperium, influence,
     jurisdiction, kingship, last word, leadership, lift, limit,
     lordship, management, mastership, mastery, maximum, meridian,
     mirror, most, mountaintop, ne plus ultra, new high,
     no place higher, noon, nth degree, palms, paragon, paramountcy,
     peak, perfection, pink, pink of perfection, pinnacle, pitch, point,
     pole, power, presidency, primacy, raise, record, ridge, rise,
     rising ground, rule, say, seventh heaven, shining example, sky,
     sovereignty, spire, steep, stratosphere, summit, supremacy, sway,
     the whole, tip, tip-top, top, top spot, ultimate, upmost,
     upper extremity, uppermost, uprise, utmost, utmost extent,
     uttermost, vantage ground, vantage point, vertex, very top,
     zenith