download

download
    v 1: transfer a file or program from a central computer to a
         smaller computer or to a computer at a remote location
         [ant: {upload}]
    

download
 vt.

   To transfer data or (esp.) code from a far-away system (especially a
   larger host system) over a digital communications link to a nearby
   system (especially a smaller client system. Oppose {upload}.

   Historical use of these terms was at one time associated with
   transfers from large timesharing machines to PCs or peripherals
   (download) and vice-versa (upload). The modern usage relative to the
   speaker (rather than as an indicator of the size and role of the
   machines) evolved as machine categories lost most of their former
   functional importance.
    

download
downloading

   <jargon> To transfer data from one computer to another.
   Downloading usually refers to transfer from a larger "host"
   system (especially a {server} or {mainframe}) to a smaller
   "client" system, especially a {microcomputer} or specialised
   peripheral, and "{upload}" usually means from small to large.

   Others hold that, technically, download means "receive" and
   upload means "send", irrespective of the size of the systems
   involved.

   Note that in communications between ground and space,
   space-to-earth transmission is always "down" and the reverse
   "up", regardless of size.  So far the in-space machines have
   invariably been smaller; thus the upload/download distinction
   has been reversed from its usual sense.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (2003-11-04)