control

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English conterrolle, from Old French contrerole, from Medieval Latin contrarotulum (“a counter-roll or register used to verify accounts”), from Latin contra (“against, opposite”) + Medieval Latin rotulus, Latin rotula (“roll, a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”).

PronunciationEdit

• (US) IPA^(key): /kənˈt(ʃ)roʊl/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /kənˈtrəʊl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

VerbEdit

control (third-person singular simple present controls, present participle controlling, simple past and past participle controlled)

1. To exercise influence over, to suggest or dictate the behavior of, oversit.
   • With a simple remote, he could control the toy truck.
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19: 

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]  The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.

SynonymsEdit

• bewield
• puppeteer

Derived termsEdit

• controller
• controlling

Related termsEdit

• regulate

TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

control (countable and uncountable, plural controls)

1. (countable, uncountable) Influence or authority over.

   The government has complete control over the situation.

2. A separate group or subject in an experiment against which the results are compared where the primary variable is low or non-existent.
3. The method and means of governing the performance of any apparatus, machine or system, such as a lever, handle or button.
4. Restraint or ability to contain one's movements or emotions, or self-control.
   • 2012 March 6, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, New York Times:

     She had no control of her body as she tumbled downhill. She did not know up from down. It was not unlike being cartwheeled in a relentlessly crashing wave.

   • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27: 

     The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you […] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

5. A security mechanism, policy, or procedure that can counter system attack, reduce risks, and resolve vulnerabilities; a safeguard or countermeasure.
6. (project management) A means of monitoring for, and triggering intervention in, activities that are not going according to plan.
7. A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

8. (graphical user interface) An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box.

SynonymsEdit

• (GUI): widget

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

• regulation

TranslationsEdit

External linksEdit

• control in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• control in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• Control on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Control in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.

EtymologyEdit

From French contrôle.

NounEdit

control m (plural controls)

1. control
2. check, inspection
3. influence, authority

Derived termsEdit

• controlar

NounEdit

control m (plural controles)

1. control, or running of a business
2. control of a machine
3. control or emotional restraint, self-control
4. remote control

SynonymsEdit

• (contol of a maschine): mando
• (remote contol): control remoto, mando