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Widget is a general-purpose term, or placeholder name, for any unspecified device, including those that have not yet been invented. It is commonly used in textbook and other examples where the identity of the product or function is irrelevant and could be distracting: students may be asked to design a business plan for the XYZ Widget Company. Compare Acme. A placeholder name occupies a syntactic space between nouns and pronouns. ...
Acme (Greek ακμή, female - the peak, maturity, best, but also acne) is the name most frequently used in jurisprudence to indicate a fictional company or corporation (or generically a subject with juridical personality), in order to simulate a concrete case of application or interpretation of the law. ...
The alt.usage.english FAQ gives the origin of "widget" as the 1924 play "Beggar on Horseback", by George Kaufman and Marc Connelly, as an invented term for the product manufactured by one of the characters; that the protagonist never learns just what "widgets" are is part of the point. The Oxford English Dictionary traces its usage only back to 1931, in a volume of American Speech. FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) are a series of questions and answers all pertaining to a certain topic. ...
George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889 - June 2, 1961) was a playwright, director, producer, and drama critic most noted for his many collaborations with other writers. ...
Marc Connelly photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 - December 21, 1980) was a member of the Algonquin roundtable and composed several musicals with playwright George S. Kaufman: 1921 Dulcy 1922 Merton of the Movies 1925 Beggar on Horseback Categories: 1890 births | 1980 deaths ...
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a comprehensive dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ...
Specific widgets
Though "widget" usually refers to small unspecified devices, it has, in a strange twist, become the name of certain specific ones as well.
Floating widget in canned beer The floating widget found in cans of beer is a hollow sphere, 3 cm (1.2 in) in diameter. The can is pressurized by adding liquid nitrogen, which evaporates after the can is sealed, forcing gas and beer into the widget's hollow interior through tiny holes. When the can is opened, the pressure in the can drops, causing the pressurized gas inside the widget to jet out from the holes. The holes in the widget are angled slightly so that the widget spins, creating a creamy head inside the can. This imitates the foamy head created when pouring draught beer. The original widget was patented in the UK by Boddingtons. Floating widget, Guinness source: me Duk 16:59, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Floating widget, Guinness source: me Duk 16:59, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
A typical mug of lager beer, showing the golden colour of the beer and the foamy head floating on top. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 14. ...
Draught beer (also called draft beer or tap beer) is beer that has been served from, or has been conditioned in, a cask. ...
Boddingtons is an English beer, originally from Manchester, that has been brewed for more than 200 years. ...
Graphical component in computing In computing, widgets are components of graphical user interfaces (GUI) that the user interacts with, and also small helper-type applications. See widget (computing). An example of graphical user interface in Apples Mac OS X An example of graphical user interface in Microsoft Windows XP A graphical user interface (or GUI, pronounced gooey) is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in...
A widget (or control) is a graphical interface component that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. ...
A web gadget. Usually simple and practical.
Apple Computer's Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger) operating system brings users the Apple Dashboard which is a kind over-desktop space for Widgets. Widgets can be created by anyone with some graphic and html skills, and a Widget is defined as a mini-application that generally does one job well; See widget (computing). Apple Computer, Inc. ...
Mac OS X version 10. ...
Apple Dashboard is a mini-applications layer for Mac OS X, introduced in version 10. ...
A widget (or control) is a graphical interface component that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. ...
Device in Marvel Comics See Widget (comics). Widget (Katherine Kate Pryde of the Days of Future Past timeline) is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. ...
See also A metasyntactic variable is a placeholder name, or a kind of alias term, commonly used to denote the subject matter under discussion, or a random member of a class of things under discussion. ...
A gadget is a device that has a useful specific purpose and function. ...
External links - The alt.usage.english FAQ
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