jacquard loom

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Jacquard loom
    n 1: a loom with an attachment for forming openings for the
         passage of the shuttle between the warp threads; used in
         weaving figured fabrics [syn: {Jacquard loom}, {Jacquard}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Jacquard \Jac*quard"\, a.
   Pertaining to, or invented by, Jacquard, a French
   mechanician, who died in 1834.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Jacquard apparatus} or {Jacquard arrangement}, a device
      applied to looms for weaving figured goods, consisting of
      mechanism controlled by a chain of variously perforated
      cards, which cause the warp threads to be lifted in the
      proper succession for producing the required figure.

   {Jacquard card}, one of the perforated cards of a Jacquard
      apparatus.

   {Jacquard loom}, a loom with Jacquard apparatus.
      [1913 Webster]

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Jacquard loom

   <history> /zhah-kar'/ A mechanical loom, invented by
   {Joseph-Marie Jacquard} in 1801, which used the holes punched
   in pasteboard {punch cards} (which see) to control the weaving
   of patterns in fabric.  It was the first machine to use punch
   cards, although it did no computation based on them.

   (http://history.rochester.edu/steam/hollerith/loom.htm).

   (1998-10-19)