Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A logarithm.
  • noun A usually large section of a trunk or limb of a fallen or felled tree.
  • noun A long thick section of trimmed, unhewn timber.
  • noun A device trailed from a ship to determine its speed through the water.
  • noun A record of a ship's speed, its progress, and any shipboard events of navigational importance.
  • noun The book in which this record is kept.
  • noun A record of a vehicle's performance, as the flight record of an aircraft.
  • noun A record, as of the performance of a machine or the progress of an undertaking.
  • intransitive verb To cut down, trim, and haul the timber of (a piece of land).
  • intransitive verb To cut (timber) into unhewn sections.
  • intransitive verb To enter in a record, as of a ship or an aircraft.
  • intransitive verb To travel (a specified distance, time, or speed).
  • intransitive verb To spend or accumulate (time).
  • intransitive verb To cut down, trim, and haul timber.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Hebrew liquid measure, the seventy-second part of a bath, or about a pint. It seems to have been of Babylonian origin, being one sixtieth of a maxis.
  • noun Nautical, an apparatus for measuring the rapidity of a ship's motion.
  • noun Hence The record of a ship's progress, or a tabulated summary of the performance of the engines and boilers, etc.; a log-book.
  • noun plural A jail (formerly built of logs).
  • To cut into logs.
  • To cut down trees and get out logs from the forest for sawing into boards, etc.: as, to engage in logging.
  • noun A bulky piece or stick of unhewn timber; a length of wood as cut from the trunk or a large limb of a tree; specifically, an unsplit stick of timber with butted ends ready for sawing.
  • noun Figuratively, a dull, heavy, stolid, or stupid person.
  • Constructed of logs; consisting of logs: as, a log cabin; a log fort or bridge.
  • Nautical, to enter in a log-book the name of a man, with his offense and the penalty attached to it; hence, to fine.
  • To record or enter in the log-book.
  • To exhibit by the indication of the log, as a rate of speed by the hour: as, the ship logs ten knots.
  • noun The abbreviation of logarithm. Thus, log. 3 = 0.4771213 is an equation giving the value of the logarithm of 3.
  • noun In tailoring, a document which fixes the time to be credited to journeymen for making a specified kind of garment, the men being paid nominally by the hour. N. E. D. Also attributive: as, a log shop.
  • To move to and fro; rock. See logging-rock.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb U.S. To engage in the business of cutting or transporting logs for timber; to get out logs.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To move to and fro; to rock.
  • noun A Hebrew measure of liquids, containing 2.37 gills.
  • transitive verb (Naut.) To enter in a ship's log book.
  • transitive verb To record any event in a logbook, especially an event relating to the operation of a machine or device.
  • noun A bulky piece of wood which has not been shaped by hewing or sawing.
  • noun (Naut.) An apparatus for measuring the rate of a ship's motion through the water.
  • noun The record of the rate of speed of a ship or airplane, and of the course of its progress for the duration of a voyage; also, the full nautical record of a ship's cruise or voyage; a log slate; a log book.
  • noun A record and tabulated statement of the person(s) operating, operations performed, resources consumed, and the work done by any machine, device, or system.
  • noun (Mining) A weight or block near the free end of a hoisting rope to prevent it from being drawn through the sheave.
  • noun (computers) A record of activities performed within a program, or changes in a database or file on a computer, and typically kept as a file in the computer.
  • noun (Naut.) a board consisting of two parts shutting together like a book, with columns in which are entered the direction of the wind, course of the ship, etc., during each hour of the day and night. These entries are transferred to the log book. A folding slate is now used instead.
  • noun (Naut.) a book in which a log{4} is recorded.
  • noun a cabin or house made of logs.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English logge.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English logge, of unknown origin. That it descends from Old Norse lág ("a felled tree") is widely doubted on phonological grounds; an alternative is sound expression of the notion of something massive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From logbook, itself from log (above) + book

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word log.

Examples

  • Then I su to / var / log and deleted all the syslog*, user. log*, security*, and messages* files.

    PCLinuxOS-Forums 2009

  • I'm using asmx, I use the below code for logging SOAP request / response but it did not log the request or response to c: \log. txt (I give aspnet user full privilege on c: \log. txt)

    ASP.NET Forums 2009

  • I've also got some log output: jim@obsidian: / var / log$ tail - f kern. log | grep - v ": link"

    LinuxQuestions.org jcllings 2008

  • Algebra How can I solve this equation: 0 = 80+20*log10 (1 / X) 0 = 80 + 20 (log10 +log (1 / x) 0 = 80 + 20 (log 10 +log1 - logx) 0 = 80 + 20log10 +20 log1 - 20logx) 20logx = 80 + 20log10 +20 log1 logx = 4 + log10 + log1 us your superb math skills

    Answerbag: Latest Questions in Question Categories 2008

  • For example, taking logs of the data is one such trick Y=XY can be transformed into the linear regression log(Y)=log(X)+log(Y) (you can have exponents on the X and Y but I didn’t want to unnecessarily complicate this example).

    An Exchange at Scientific American « Climate Audit 2005

  • The term log home is contemporary and preferred by most log home builders

    Think Progress » Homophobic? 2007

  • I agree that keeping a log is a great idea, but I'd never stick to it -- I know my limitations.

    Do You Keep A Fishing Log? 2009

  • I agree that keeping a log is a great idea, but I'd never stick to it -- I know my limitations.

    Do You Keep A Fishing Log? 2009

  • Users create views of the log stream coming through the Server which we call log perspectives.

    Softpedia - Windows - All 2010

  • Users create views of the log stream coming through the Server which we call log perspectives.

    Softpedia - Windows - All 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • What rolls down stairs,

    alone or in pairs,

    and over your neighbor's dog?

    What's great for a snack?

    and fits on your back,

    It's log, log, log.

    It's log, log.

    It's big, it's heavy, it's wood.

    It's log, log.

    It's better than bad, it's good.

    October 21, 2007

  • That's twice tonight that you have made me laugh out loud. Where did you get this one?

    Wordie challenge: make up some new verses. I'll start.

    "A number essentially

    raised up exponentially

    Or a steaming pile left by your dog.

    Some words in a book

    of a trip that you took,

    It's log, log, log.

    October 21, 2007

  • It's from Ren and Stimpy.

    October 21, 2007

  • Oh my God, I can't stop...

    What sailors and captains

    Write as they are trapped in

    A dense and surrounding sea fog.

    A kind of a stick

    But short and quite thick

    It's log, log, log.

    October 21, 2007

  • short for logarithm

    October 21, 2007

  • Ok. One more.

    A logical process,

    A tree needing hospice,

    A rain forest home for a frog.

    To harvest some trees,

    To keep track fees,

    It's log, log, log.

    October 22, 2007

  • Everyone wants a log.

    You're gonna need a log.

    See earworm.

    Love the new verses!

    October 22, 2007

  • Skipvia, you're an absolute poet. :-)

    October 22, 2007

  • I don't know why these keep occurring to me. Someone please help me...

    Kirk's eponymous notes

    As the Enterprise floats

    Past a nebula, crew all agog.

    A number with 'rithm

    Or a chart that's made with 'em

    It's log, log, log.

    November 5, 2007