chawmp

1 definition found

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

  chawmp
   n.
  
     [University of Florida] 16 or 18 bits (half of a machine word). This
     term was used by FORTH hackers during the late 1970s/early 1980s; it
     is said to have been archaic then, and may now be obsolete. It was
     coined in revolt against the promiscuous use of `word' for anything
     between 16 and 32 bits; `word' has an additional special meaning for
     FORTH hacks that made the overloading intolerable. For similar
     reasons, /gaw'bl/ (spelled `gawble' or possibly `gawbul') was in use
     as a term for 32 or 48 bits (presumably a full machine word, but our
     sources are unclear on this). These terms are more easily understood
     if one thinks of them as faithful phonetic spellings of `chomp' and
     `gobble' pronounced in a Florida or other Southern U.S. dialect. For
     general discussion of similar terms, see nybble.