from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Window \Win"dow\, n. [OE. windowe, windoge, Icel. vindauga
window, properly, wind eye; akin to Dan. vindue. ????. See
{Wind}, n., and {Eye}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. An opening in the wall of a building for the admission of
light and air, usually closed by casements or sashes
containing some transparent material, as glass, and
capable of being opened and shut at pleasure.
[1913 Webster]
I leaped from the window of the citadel. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Then to come, in spite of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Arch.) The shutter, casement, sash with its fittings, or
other framework, which closes a window opening.
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3. A figure formed of lines crossing each other. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
Till he has windows on his bread and butter. --King.
[1913 Webster]
4. a period of time in which some activity may be uniquely
possible, more easily accomplished, or more likely to
succeed; as, a launch window for a mission to Mars.
[PJC]
5. (Computers) a region on a computer display screen which
represents a separate computational process, controlled
more or less independently from the remaining part of the
screen, and having widely varying functions, from simply
displaying information to comprising a separate conceptual
screen in which output can be visualized, input can be
controlled, program dialogs may be accomplished, and a
program may be controlled independently of any other
processes occurring in the computer. The window may have a
fixed location and size, or (as in modern Graphical User
Interfaces) may have its size and location on the screen
under the control of the operator.
[PJC]
[1913 Webster]
{French window} (Arch.), a casement window in two folds,
usually reaching to the floor; -- called also {French
casement}.
{Window back} (Arch.), the inside face of the low, and
usually thin, piece of wall between the window sill and
the floor below.
{Window blind}, a blind or shade for a window.
{Window bole}, part of a window closed by a shutter which can
be opened at will. [Scot.]
{Window box}, one of the hollows in the sides of a window
frame for the weights which counterbalance a lifting sash.
{Window frame}, the frame of a window which receives and
holds the sashes or casement.
{Window glass}, panes of glass for windows; the kind of glass
used in windows.
{Window martin} (Zool.), the common European martin. [Prov.
Eng.]
{Window oyster} (Zool.), a marine bivalve shell ({Placuna
placenta}) native of the East Indies and China. Its valves
are very broad, thin, and translucent, and are said to
have been used formerly in place of glass.
{Window pane}.
(a) (Arch.) See {Pane}, n., 3
(b) .
(b) (Zool.) See {Windowpane}, in the Vocabulary.
{Window sash}, the sash, or light frame, in which panes of
glass are set for windows.
{Window seat}, a seat arranged in the recess of a window. See
{Window stool}, under {Stool}.
{Window shade}, a shade or blind for a window; usually, one
that is hung on a roller.
{Window shell} (Zool.), the window oyster.
{Window shutter}, a shutter or blind used to close or darken
windows.
{Window sill} (Arch.), the flat piece of wood, stone, or the
like, at the bottom of a window frame.
{Window swallow} (Zool.), the common European martin. [Prov.
Eng.]
{Window tax}, a tax or duty formerly levied on all windows,
or openings for light, above the number of eight in houses
standing in cities or towns. [Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
from
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Window
properly only an opening in a house for the admission of light
and air, covered with lattice-work, which might be opened or
closed (2 Kings 1:2; Acts 20:9). The spies in Jericho and Paul
at Damascus were let down from the windows of houses abutting on
the town wall (Josh. 2:15; 2 Cor. 11:33). The clouds are
metaphorically called the "windows of heaven" (Gen. 7:11; Mal.
3:10). The word thus rendered in Isa. 54:12 ought rather to be
rendered "battlements" (LXX., "bulwarks;" R.V., "pinnacles"), or
as Gesenius renders it, "notched battlements, i.e., suns or rays
of the sun"= having a radiated appearance like the sun.
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
WINDOW. An opening made in the wall of a house to admit light and air, and
to enable those who are in to look out.
2. The owner has a right to make as many windows in his house when not
built on the line of his property as he may deem proper, although by so
doing be may destroy the privacy of his neighbors. Bac. Ab. Actions in
general, B.
3. In cities and towns it is evident that the owner of a house cannot
open windows in the partition wall without the consent of the owner of the
adjoining property, unless he possesses the right of having ancient lights.
(q.v.) The opening of such windows and destroying the privacy of the
adjoining property, is not, however, actionable; the remedy against such
encroachment is by obstructing them, without encroaching upon the rights of
the party who opened them, so as to prevent a right from being acquired by
twenty years use. 3 Camp. 82.