slopsucker

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

slopsucker
 /slop'suhk.r/, n.

   A lowest-priority task that waits around until everything else has
   `had its fill' of machine resources. Only when the machine would
   otherwise be idle is the task allowed to ``suck up the slop'. Also
   called a hungry puppy or bottom feeder. One common variety of
   slopsucker hunts for large prime numbers. Compare {background}.

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

slopsucker
bottom feeder

   /slop'suhk-r/ A lowest-{priority} task that only runs when the
   computer would otherwise be idle.  Also called a "hungry
   puppy" or "bottom feeder" (after the fishermen's and
   naturalists' term for finny creatures who subsist on the
   primordial ooze).

   One common variety of slopsucker hunts for large {prime
   numbers}.

   Compare {background}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (2003-09-29)

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