Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Daemon |
DaemonNoun1. One of the evil spirits of traditional Jewish and Christian belief. 2. A person who is part mortal and part god. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "daemon" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Computing | Daemon /day'mn/ or /dee'mn/ n. [from the mythological meaning, later rationalized as the acronym `Disk And Execution MONitor'] A program that is not invoked explicitly, but lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. The idea is that the perpetrator of the condition need not be aware that a daemon is lurking (though often a program will commit an action only because it knows that it will implicitly invoke a daemon). For example, under {ITS, writing a file on the LPT spooler's directory would invoke the spooling daemon, which would then print the file. The advantage is that programs wanting (in this example) files printed need neither compete for access to nor understand any idiosyncrasies of the LPT. They simply enter their implicit requests and let the daemon decide what to do with them. Daemons are usually spawned automatically by the system, and may either live forever or be regenerated at intervals. Daemon and demon are often used interchangeably, but seem to have distinct connotations. The term `daemon' was introduced to computing by CTSS people (who pronounced it /dee'mon/) and used it to refer to what ITS called a dragon; the prototype was a program called DAEMON that automatically made tape backups of the file system. Although the meaning and the pronunciation have drifted, we think this glossary reflects current (2000) usage. Source: Jargon File. |
Bible | Daemon the Greek form, rendered "devil" in the Authorized Version of the New Testament. Daemons are spoken of as spiritual beings (Matt. 8:16; 10:1; 12:43-45) at enmity with God, and as having a certain power over man (James 2:19; Rev. 16:14). They recognize our Lord as the Son of God (Matt. 8:20; Luke 4:41). They belong to the number of those angels that "kept not their first estate," "unclean spirits," "fallen angels," the angels of the devil (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 12:7-9). They are the "principalities and powers" against which we must "wrestle" (Eph. 6:12). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The words daemon and daimon are distinctive, older spellings of demon. This spelling is used purposely today to distinguish the daemons of Greek mythology, "supernatural beings between mortals and gods, such as inferior divinities and ghosts of dead heroes", from the Judeo-Christian usage demon, "a malignant spirit that can possess humans".
Daemons ("replete with knowledge", "divine power", "fate" or "god") were not necessarily evil. The Greeks divided daemons into good and evil categories: eudaemons and cacodaemons, respectively. Eudaemons somewhat resembled the modern idea of the guardian angel. They watched over ordinary mortals to help keep them out of trouble.
Socrates claimed to have a daimon that warned him and gave him advice but never coerced him into following it. He claimed that his daimon exhibited greater accuracy than any of the forms of divination practised at the time.
See also eudaimonia.
A comparable Roman genius accompanied a person or protected and haunted a place (genius loci).
In computer science, a daemon (sometimes called a phantom) is a particular class of computer program which runs in the background, rather than under the direct control of a user; they are usually instantiated as processeses.
Systems often "launch" daemons at start-up time: they often serve the function of responding to network requests, hardware activity, or other programs by performing some task. Daemons can also configure hardware (like devfsd on some Linux systems), run scheduled tasks (like crond), and perform a variety of other tasks.
The programmers of CTSS coined the term, and all the systems descended from it, including Unix, have inherited the terminology. (For a fuller explanation of the origin of the name, see this page.)
In a strictly technical sense, Unix recognises as a daemon any process which has process number 1 (init) as its parent process. The init process adopts any process whose parent dies without waiting for the child's status, so the common method for launching a daemon involves forking once or twice, and making the parent (and grandparent) die while the child (or grandchild) process begins performing its normal function. The idiom is sometimes summarized with the phrase "fork off and die".
In common Unix usage a daemon may be any background process, whether a child of init or not. UNIX users sometimes spell daemon as demon, and most usually pronounce the word that way.
On Microsoft Windows systems, programs called "services" perform the functions of daemons, though the term "daemon" has started to creep into common usage on that platform as well.
In the His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman describes a fictional world where everyone has a daemon, although he spells it 'Dæmon'. This takes the form of an animal, which has a separate identity even though it is an integral part of a person in that world; a physical manifestation of their soul. Children's dæmons have no fixed form, but as children reach puberty their dæmons take a form reflective of the person's personality. This concept is sometimes referred to as a "Familiar."
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Daemon."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
Daemon | English | Disk and Execution MONitor | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: DaemonSynonyms: daimon (n), demigod (n), demon (n), devil (n), fiend (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Demon | Noun: demon, daemon, demonry, demonology; evil genius, fiend, familiar, daeva, devil; bad spirit, unclean spirit; cacodemon, incubus, Eblis, shaitan, succubus, succuba; Frankenstein's monster; Titan, Shedim, Mephistopheles, Asmodeus, Moloch, Belial, Ahriman; fury, harpy; Friar Rush. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Daemon |
| Specialty definitions using "daemon": cron ♦ Devil Book ♦ GNATS ♦ HTTPd ♦ inetd ♦ lpr ♦ rlogin ♦ sendmail. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Daemon. (ReBoot; writing credit: Christy Marx; Mark Leiren-Young) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ReBoot: Daemon Rising (2001) Daemon (1985) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Daemon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 84.75% of the time. "Daemon" is used about 59 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 84.75% | 50 | 48,117 |
| Noun (proper) | 13.56% | 8 | 124,375 |
| Noun (common) | 1.69% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 59 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "daemon": daemon book. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "daemon": daemon-haunted, daemon-head, daemon-hunter, daemon-masked, daemon-masks, daemon-possessed, daemon-room, daemon-slaying. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
daemon tool | 3,748 |
daemon | 1,290 |
daemon download tool | 202 |
daemon virtual | 86 |
daemon tools.com | 83 |
syslog daemon | 43 |
daemon syslog window | 38 |
ftp daemon | 38 |
daemon toolz | 37 |
daemon manager virtual | 32 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "daemon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | dreq (demon, Deuce, devil, Dickens, fiend, heck, heller, hellion, imp, Satan), djall (archenemy, archfiend, Beelzebub, Belial, demon, devil, fiend, imp, Lucifer, old nick, old scratch, Satan), demon (demon, devil). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | гений (genius, phenomenon), дух покровител, демон (demon, fiend, incubus). (various references) | |
Chinese | 邪" (demon). (various references) | |
Czech | démon (demon, fiend, ghoul). (various references) | |
Dutch | halfgod (demigod), <goede of slechte genius>. (various references) | |
German | Daemon, masc.. (various references) | |
Greek | σατανάσ (demon, devil, fiend, prince of darkness, tempter), δαιμόνιο (demon, elf, hob, imp, puck), δαίμονασ (demon, fiend). (various references) | |
Hungarian | démon (demon, devil, djinn, djinni, fiend, genius, jinn, jinnee, jinni). (various references) | |
Italian | demonio (demon, devil, fiend), demone -spirito, demone (demon, devil), spirito maligno (cacodemon, demon, fiend, Goblin). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | データ通信 (daily, daily express, Daily Mirror, daily satellite feed, daily spread, data communication, date, date club, date girl, date spot, day, daylight, daylight screen, daylight type, demon, diesel, go on a date), ディーゼル電気車 (daily news, day, day and date, day bed, day pack, day'n'date, dealer, debate, debug, debugger, decay, decentralization, deduction, deep, deep kiss, default, defender, Defender Plan, defense, definition, delay, delayed steal, delay-line, demand-pull inflation, deoxyribo, depletion, deregulation, deschooling, describe, descriptor, destination, destructor, detail, detector, Deus, developer, device, dictionary, dieldrin, diesel electric car, differential gear, differentiation, diffusion index, digital, digital camera, digital voltmeter, dilettante, dilettantism, dimension, diminuendo, dimple, dinghy, dinner, dinner dress, dinner jacket, dinner party, dinner set, dinner suit, dip, diploma, director, directory, disc jockey, disclosure, Discman, disco, disco sound, discography, disconnect, discontinue, discotheque, discount, discount sale, discount store, discover, discoverer, discrete, discussion, disinflation, disk, disk brake, disk jockey, diskette, diskless, diskman, Disney, Disneyland, dispatch, dispatcher, dispel, dispenser, displacement, display, disposer, disrupt, dissolve, distance, distortion, distribution, distributor, disturb, divertimento, divided skirt, divider, divot, French kiss). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | デーモン (demon), ディーモン . (various references) | |
Korean | 악마 (demon, devil). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aemonday.(various references) | |
Portuguese | diabo (boomer, demon, Deuce, devil, Dickens, Nick), DEMONHO, demônio (archenemy, archfiend, Belial, demon, Deuce, Dickens, fiend, genocide, gremlin, poltergeist), gênio (ethyl, genie, Genista, genius, spirit, temper). (various references) | |
Russian | демон (demon, incubus). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | demon (demon, jinnee). (various references) | |
Spanish | demonio (demon, Deuce, devil, fiend, good grief, heck, hell). (various references) | |
Swedish | demon (Belial, demon, demos, fiend, jinn, jinnee), ond ande (demon, evil spirit, fiend, ghoul, incubus), överdängare (demon, oner, out-and-outer). (various references) | |
Turkish | zalim (arbitrary, atrocious, bloody minded, brutal, cruel, cutthroat, demon, draconian, draconic, fell, felon, fiendish, flinty, grim, heavy, heavy-handed, ill natured, inhuman, miscreant, ogre, oppressive, oppressor, outrageous, persecutor, sanguinary, savage, stony, truculent, tyrannic, tyrannical), kötü ruhlu (demon, demonic), iblis (adversary, demon, old harry, old nick, the devil, the evil one), şeytan (adversary, arch fiend, artful, cloven foot, cloven hoof, crafty, cunning, demon, devil, fiend, old harry, old nick, prince of darkness, sly, the arch-enemy, the devil, the evil one, the old dragon, the old enemy, the tempter, wily). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | yêu ma (demon), người ác hiểm (demon), ma quỷ (bogey, bogle, bogy, demon, fiend, sprite), ma quái người độc ác (demon). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "daemon": daemones, daemonic, daemons. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "daemon": eudaemon. (additional references) | |
Words containing "daemon": eudaemonism, eudaemonisms, eudaemonist, eudaemonistic, eudaemonists, eudaemons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Daemon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Adamon, ademoa, Caedmon, daemeon, daemond, Dahmen, daikon, daimon, Daion, daleymen, Dalmon, dameon, Dameron, damon, d'amor, Darmon, D'armont, D'aumont, Daymond, deadman, deamon, Dearmon, deavon, dimon. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "daemon" (pronounced dē"mun or dā"mun) |
| 5 | d ē" m u n | demon. |
| 4 | -ē" m u n | Freeman, Leman, seaman, seamen, semen. |
| 3 | -m u n | abdomen, acumen, adman, admen, airman, albumin, alderman, antihistamine, Ashman, assemblywoman, backgammon, backwoodsman, Badman, bagman, barman, baseman, bayman, bellman, Benjamin, bitumen, Boardman, boatman, bookman, Bowman, bowmen, brakeman, bushman, businesswoman, cameraman, Carman, Carmen, carmine, cattlemen, Cayman, chairman, chairwoman, Chapman, chessman, chrismon, churchman, churchmen, cinnamon, clergyman, coachman, cochairman, committeeman, common, congressman, congresswoman, corpsman, councilman, councilwoman, councilwomen, countryman, cowman, craftsman, craftsmen, crewman, dairymen, Daman, desman, determine, Dolman, draftsman, draftsmen, dromon, dustman, Dutchman, Ermine, Everyman, examine, famine, ferryman, fireman, firemen, Firman, footman, foramen, foreman, foremen, forewoman, Freedman, freshman, gammon, gentleman, gentlewoman, gentlewomen, german, Goodman, gunman, hangman, headman, headsman, henchman, henchmen, Herdman, Hetman, horseman, horsemen, houseman, human, huntsman, hymen, illumine, infantryman, inhuman, jasmine, Kirkman, Landman, landsman, lawman, layman, laymen, lemon, Letterman, Liman, Lineman, linemen, lobsterman, longshoremen, lumen, madmen, marksman, messman, midshipman, newswoman, newswomen, nobleman, noblewoman, nonhuman, nurserymen, oarsman, ombudsman, omen, ottoman, Outman, overman, Packman, Penman, pitchman, Pitman, Plowman, policeman, policewoman, postman, predetermine, pressman, Pullman, ragmen, reexamine, regimen, rifleman, Rodman, roman, rumen, salarymen, salesman, saleswoman, saleswomen, salmon, seedsman, sermon, shaman, Shipman, showman, Spearman, specimen, spokesman, spokeswoman, sportsman, statesman, Stillman, Stockman, subhuman, summon, superhuman, superwoman, talisman, Telamon, thiamin, timberman, Titman, Toman, townsman, tradesmen, trainmen, uncommon, vitamin, watchman, Waterman, watermen, wingman, wireman, woman, women, Woodman, woodsmen, Woolman, workman, yachtsman, yeoman. |
| 5 | d ā" m u n | Daman. |
| 4 | -ā" m u n | bayman, Cayman, foramen, layman, laymen, shaman. |
| 3 | -m u n | abdomen, acumen, adman, admen, airman, albumin, alderman, antihistamine, Ashman, assemblywoman, backgammon, backwoodsman, Badman, bagman, barman, baseman, bellman, Benjamin, bitumen, Boardman, boatman, bookman, Bowman, bowmen, brakeman, bushman, businesswoman, cameraman, Carman, Carmen, carmine, cattlemen, chairman, chairwoman, Chapman, chessman, chrismon, churchman, churchmen, cinnamon, clergyman, coachman, cochairman, committeeman, common, congressman, congresswoman, corpsman, councilman, councilwoman, councilwomen, countryman, cowman, craftsman, craftsmen, crewman, dairymen, demon, desman, determine, Dolman, draftsman, draftsmen, dromon, dustman, Dutchman, Ermine, Everyman, examine, famine, ferryman, fireman, firemen, Firman, footman, foreman, foremen, forewoman, Freedman, Freeman, freshman, gammon, gentleman, gentlewoman, gentlewomen, german, Goodman, gunman, hangman, headman, headsman, henchman, henchmen, Herdman, Hetman, horseman, horsemen, houseman, human, huntsman, hymen, illumine, infantryman, inhuman, jasmine, Kirkman, Landman, landsman, lawman, Leman, lemon, Letterman, Liman, Lineman, linemen, lobsterman, longshoremen, lumen, madmen, marksman, messman, midshipman, newswoman, newswomen, nobleman, noblewoman, nonhuman, nurserymen, oarsman, ombudsman, omen, ottoman, Outman, overman, Packman, Penman, pitchman, Pitman, Plowman, policeman, policewoman, postman, predetermine, pressman, Pullman, ragmen, reexamine, regimen, rifleman, Rodman, roman, rumen, salarymen, salesman, saleswoman, saleswomen, salmon, seaman, seamen, seedsman, semen, sermon, Shipman, showman, Spearman, specimen, spokesman, spokeswoman, sportsman, statesman, Stillman, Stockman, subhuman, summon, superhuman, superwoman, talisman, Telamon, thiamin, timberman, Titman, Toman, townsman, tradesmen, trainmen, uncommon, vitamin, watchman, Waterman, watermen, wingman, wireman, woman, women, Woodman, woodsmen, Woolman, workman, yachtsman, yeoman. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: moaned. | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-m-n-o" | |
-1 letter: admen, amend, anode, demon, maned, menad, monad, monde, named, nomad. | |
-2 letters: aeon, amen, dame, damn, dean, demo, dome, dona, done, made, mane, mano, mead, mean, mend, meno, moan, mode, name, nema, node, noma, nome, odea, omen. | |
-3 letters: ado, and, ane, dam, den, doe, dom, don, end, eon, mad, mae, man, med, men, moa, mod, mon, nae, nam, nod, nom, ode, one. | |
-4 letters: ad, ae, am, an, de, do, ed, em, en, ma, me, mo, na, ne, no, od, oe, om, on. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-m-n-o" | |
+1 letter: abdomen, adenoma, amidone, daemons, madrone, masoned, monades, womaned. | |
+2 letters: abdomens, adenomas, amidogen, amidones, amounted, bemoaned, boardmen, comedian, daemones, daemonic, daimones, demeanor, demoniac, demonian, dominate, dopamine, dragomen, enamored, endogamy, eudaemon, gammoned, hamboned, handsome, homeland, lemonade, madrones, madwomen, marooned, melanoid, methadon, montaged, nematode, normande, pomander, radiomen, ransomed, romanced, tamponed. | |
+3 letters: adenomata, adornment, amidogens, andromeda, cacodemon, comanaged, comedians, commanded, commander, companied, compendia, defoaming, demantoid, demeanors, demeanour, demoniacs, demonical, denominal, diamonded, dominance, dominated, dominates, dopamines, ealdorman, ealdormen, enamoured, endamoeba, endoplasm, eudaemons, forenamed, goddamned, handsomer, homelands, lampooned, lemonades, macedoine, mandoline, meandrous, medaillon, medallion, mediation, melanoids, memoranda, menadione, methadone, methadons, misatoned, montadale, moonfaced, mordanted, nematodes, nominated, outmanned, pomanders, promenade, randomize, rhodamine, romanised, romanized, seminomad, unarmored, womanised, womanized. | |
+4 letters: abominated, admonished, admonisher, admonishes, adornments, alderwoman, alderwomen, ambitioned, amendatory, ammoniated, ammonified, anatomised, anatomized, androecium, andromedas, antimodern, antimonide, bombinated, brominated, cacodemons, championed, coenamored, commandeer, commanders, commandery, commandoes, complained, coromandel, decimation, defamation, demagoging, demantoids, demeanours, demoniacal, dendrogram, denominate, dermatogen, documental, dominances, dominative, dormancies, downstream, emblazoned, emendation, endamoebae, endamoebas, endodermal, endogamies, endogamous, endometria, endoplasms, entodermal, freedwoman, gormandise, gormandize, handsomely, handsomest, harmonised, harmonized, heathendom, intermodal, macedoines, maidenhood, mandolines, manifolded, manoeuvred, meadowland, medaillons, medallions, mediations, medication, meditation, megaphoned, memorandum, menadiones, mendacious, meridional, methadones, moderating, moderation, monandries, monogramed, montadales, mordancies, motherland, nematocide, nonadmirer, nonmedical, normalised, normalized, ordainment, ornamented, overmanned, palindrome, pantomimed, promenaded, promenader, promenades, randomized, randomizer, randomizes, randomness, rhodamines, seminomads, unhandsome. | |
+5 letters: abandonment, accompanied, adenomatous, adjournment, admonishers, aerodynamic, anastomosed, antimoderns, antimonides, barnstormed, bombardment, boomeranged, cacodemonic, commandable, commandeers, commandment, commendable, commendably, commentated, companioned, compensated, condemnable, condimental, consummated, coromandels, countermand, deamination, decimations, declamation, defamations, deformation, demagoguing, demarcation, demonically, demonstrate, demountable, dendrograms, denominated, denominates, denominator, dermatogens, dimensional, documentary, dynamometer, dynamometry, embryonated, emendations, encompassed, endocardium, endometrial, endoplasmic, ethionamide, eudaemonism, eudaemonist, eudaimonism, gangsterdom, gonadectomy, gormandised, gormandises, gormandized, gormandizer, gormandizes, gourmandise, gourmandize, grandmother, heathendoms, hemodynamic, impassioned, indomitable, madreporian, maidenhoods, malediction, mandatories, manifestoed, meadowlands, mediational, medications, meditations, memorandums, mentholated, meridionals, misdemeanor, misdiagnose, moderations, monogrammed, monographed, motherlands, needlewoman, nematocidal, nematocides, nonacademic, nonadmirers, ordainments, outdreaming, overmanaged, palindromes, pandemonium, predominant, predominate, promenaders, promenading, pseudomonad, pseudomonas, randomizers, readmission, remediation, renominated, rodomontade, seminomadic, somatomedin, sulfonamide, transformed, ultramodern, unamortized, unautomated, unmotivated. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 61 65 6D 6F 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. .- . -- --- -. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01100001 01100101 01101101 01101111 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D a e m o n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0061 0065 006D 006F 006E |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)386771798180 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Abbreviations 11. Acronyms 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
