MemeIn The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins defines a meme as "a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation.
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)(1) In contract administration, an agreement between a program manager and a Contract Administration Office, establishing the scope of responsibility of…
Memorandum of Understanding/Agreement (MOU/A)A document established between two or more parties to define their respective responsibilities in accomplishing a particular goal or mission.
memoryData storage in the form of chips, or the actual chips used to hold data; storage is used to describe memory that exists on tapes or discs.
memory leakA situation in which memory that is no longer being used has not been returned to the pool of free memory.
memory scavengingThe collection of residual information from data storage. [INFOSEC-99]
menuA list of options, each of which performs a desired action such as choosing a command or applying a particular format to a part of a document.
MERCASTAcronym for merchant-ship broadcast system.
merchant-ship broadcast system (MERCAST)A maritime shore-to-ship broadcast system in which the ocean areas are divided into primary broadcast areas each covered by a high-powered shore radio…
meridian(meh-RID-ee-un) In traditional Chinese medicine, one of 20 channels that form a network through which qi (the body's vital energy) flows and that connect…
meridional rayIn fiber optics, a ray that passes through the optical axis of an optical fiber (in contrast with a skew ray, which does not).
mesh pointOne sample point in the array of sample points in a lattice. Each mesh point is located at a constant sampling interval in the x and y directions relative…
mesochronousThe relationship between two signals such that their corresponding significant instants occur at the same average rate.
MesosphereThe atmospheric shell between about 20 km and about 70 to 80 km, extending from the top of the stratosphere (the stratopause) to the upper temperature…
messageIn the Java Message Service, an asynchronous request, report, or event that is created, sent, and consumed by an enterprise application and not by a human.
message alignment indicatorIn a signal message, data transmitted between the user part and the message transfer part to identify the boundaries of the signal message.
message authenticationDetermining that a message has not been changed since leaving its point of transmission, where: (a) the identity of the originator is verified, and (b)…
Message Authentication CodeAn algorithm that allows a receiver to ensure that a block of data has retained its integrity from the time it was sent until the time it was received.
Message Authentication Code (MAC)A cryptographic checksum on data that uses a symmetric key to detect both accidental and intentional modifications of the data.
message body1. For the single message format, the message words. 2. For the multiple message format, the parameter messages. [After T1.401-1998]
message broadcastAn electronic-mail conference capability using data terminals. Note: Control can be maintained by the user or by the network.
message consumerAn object created by a JMS session that is used for receiving messages sent to a destination.
message dehydrationIn Exchange Server 2007, the removal of unnecessary elements, such as MIME content, from queued messages that are cached in memory.
Message DigestA cryptographic checksum, typically generated for a file that can be used to detect changes to the file; Secure Hash Algorithm-1 (SHA-1) is an example of…
Message Digest 5 (MD5)An algorithm for checksum generation for use in security applications. See also "RSA."
message element1. In e-mail, a specified portion of a message (e.g., the header, the body). [ANSDIT] 2.
message envelopeThe information contained in an e-mail message that is required to send and deliver a message between messaging servers by using SMTP protocol commands.
message externalsInformation outside of the message text, such as the header, trailer, etc. [INFOSEC-99]
message feedbackA method of checking the accuracy of transmission of data by sending received data back to the sending end for comparison with the original data that have…
message formatA predetermined or prescribed spatial or time-sequential arrangement of the parts of a message that is recorded in or on a data storage medium.
message frameA frame that consists of the channel seizure signal, the mark signal, the message, the checksum word, and any possible filler marks. [T1.401-1998]
message handling system (MHS)In the ITU-T X.400 Recommendations, the family of services and protocols that provides the functions for global electronic-mail (e-mail) transfer among…
Message HeaderMessage headers generally contain the identities of the author and recipients, the subject of the message, and the date the message was sent.
message headingIn radio communications, the message part or parts that (a) precede the text, i.e.
message IDAmazon SQS: The identifier returned when you send a message to a queue.
message indicator[A] sequence of bits transmitted over a communications system for synchronizing crypto-equipment. Some off-line cryptosystems, such as the [. . .
message partIn radio communications, one of the three major subdivisions of a message, namely the heading, the text, or the ending.
message passingWe characterize object interactions as message passing. A client object sends a message to a server object by invoking a method from the server's class.
Message Passing Interface (MPI)The Message Passing Interface (MPI) is a library specification for message-passing, proposed as a standard by a broadly based committee of vendors…
message producerAn object created by a JMS session that is used for sending messages to a destination.
message register leadsTerminal equipment leads at the interface used solely for receiving dc message register pulses from a central office at a PBX so that message unit…
message serviceSwitched service furnished to the general public (as distinguished from private line service).
message signal unit (MSU)A signal unit that contains service information and signaling information fields and is retransmitted by the signaling link control if it is received in…
message switchingA method of handling message traffic through a switching center, either from local users or from other switching centers, whereby the message traffic is…
message trackingThe tracking of events from the time a message enters an Edge Transport server or Hub Transport server to the time it leaves the any of the Edge Transport…
message transfer agent (MTA)An OSI application process used to store and forward messages as described in the X.400 message handling system. [Bahorsky] Synonym Internet mail agent.
message transfer partThe part of a common-channel signaling system that transfers signal messages and performs associated functions, such as error control and signaling link…
message typeAn assigned value used to identify the feature generating the message. [T1.401-1998]
message type codeThe mandatory one-octet field that uniquely defines the function and format of each ISDN user-part message. [T1.110-1987]
message unitA unit of measure for charging telephone calls, based on parameters such as the length of the call, the distance called, and/or the time of day. 2.
message wordThe smallest unit of data in the message body. This normally contains the actual feature data that a subscriber at the customer installation (CI) is…
message-driven beanAn enterprise bean that is an asynchronous message consumer. A message-driven bean has no state for a specific client, but its instance variables can…
message-only journalingMessage-only journaling creates a copy of all messages and the corresponding P2 message header data to and from users on a mailbox database and sends the…
messaging profileA group of settings that provide Exchange with information about a client's configuration. [Exchange 5.5]
messaging serviceIn integrated services digital networks (ISDN), an interactive telecommunications service that provides for information interchange among users by means…
metaOf or relating to that portion of an HTML document that is not viewable by users through normal use of the browser window, but is readable by search…
meta certificateA certificate, issued to a signatory authority, that displays all co-signature requirements for its signatory certificates. [After X9.45]
Meta DescriptionThe meta description tag is typically a sentence or two of content which describes the content of the page.
Meta KeywordsThe meta keywords tag is a tag which can be used to highlight keywords and keyword phrases which the page is targeting.
meta nameA meta key word that is incorporated in the head of an HTML document, and that includes the document's name and facilitates indexing for search engines.
Meta RefreshA meta tag used to make a browser refresh to another URL location. A meta refresh looks like this <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="10;url=http://www.
Meta SearchA search of searches. A query is submitted to more than one search engine or directory, and results are reported from all the engines, possibly after…
Meta Search EngineA server which passes queries on to many search engines and/or directories and then summarises all the results.
Meta tagA construct placed in the HTML header of a web page, providing information which is not visible to browsers.
Meta tag stuffingRepeating keywords in the meta tags and using meta keywords that are unrelated to the site's content.
Meta TagsPeople generally refer to meta descriptions and meta keywords as meta tags. Some people also group the page title in with these.
meta-signaling VCs (vacant codes)The standardized vacant codes that convey meta-signaling information across a user-network interface (UNI). [T1.627-1993]
MetabaseA store that contains metadata such as that used by Internet Information Server IIS to obtain its configuration data.
Metabase update serviceA component in Exchange 2000 that reads data from Active Directory and transposes it into the local IIS metabase.
metacharacterA "character" that is not supposed to be treated normally. Which characters are to be treated specially as metacharacters varies greatly from context to…
metadataMetadata is information about a particular data set which may describe, for example, how, when, and by whom it was received, created, accessed, and/or…
metallic circuitA circuit in which metallic conductors are used and in which the ground or earth forms no part.
metallic memberA noncommunications metallic cable component such as a shield, vapor barrier, or strength member. [T1.316-1997]
metallic voltageA potential difference between metallic conductors, as opposed to a potential difference between a metallic conductor and ground.
metaschedulerA program that typically operates at a higher level than a job scheduler (typically, above the GRAM level). It schedules and submits jobs to GRAM services.
metasymbolSomething we'd call a "metacharacter" except that it's a sequence of more than one character.
meteor burst communicationsCommunications by the propagation of radio signals reflected by ionized meteor trails. [NTIA]
meteorological aids serviceA radiocommunication service used for meteorological, including hydrological, observations and exploration. [NTIA] [RR]
methodthe course of action or technique followed in conducting a specific analysis or comparison leading to an analytical result.
method bodyThe body of a method: everything inside the outermost block of a method.
method headerThe header of a method, consisting of the method name, its result type, formal arguments and any exceptions thrown. Also known as a method signature.
method overloadingTwo or more methods with the same name defined within a class are said to be overloaded. This applies to both constructors and other methods.
method overridingA method defined in a super class may be overridden by a method of the same name defined in a sub class.
method permissionAn authorization rule that determines who is permitted to execute one or more enterprise bean methods.
method resultThe value returned from a method via a return statement. The type of the expression in the return statement must match the return type declared in the…