[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

background \back"ground`\, n. back, a. + ground.
   1913 webster
   1. ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as
      opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.
      1913 webster

   2. paint. the space which is behind and subordinate to a
      portrait or group of figures.
      1913 webster

   note: the distance in a picture is usually divided into
         foreground, middle distance, and background.
         --fairholt.
         1913 webster

   3. anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a
      background of red hangings.
      1913 webster

   4. a place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.
      1913 webster

            i fancy there was a background of grinding and
            waiting before miss torry could produce this highly
            finished . . . performance.           --mrs.
                                                  alexander.
      1913 webster

            a husband somewhere in the background. --thackeray.
      1913 webster

   5. the set of conditions within which an action takes place,
      including the social and physical conditions as well as
      the psychological states of the participants; as, within
      the background of the massive budget deficits of the
      1980's, new spending programs had little chance of passage
      by the congress.
      pjc

   6. the set of conditions that precede and affect an action,
      such as the social and historical precedents for the
      event, as well as the general background5; as, against
      the background of their expulsion by the serbs, the desire
      of kosovars for vengeance is understandable though
      regrettable.
      pjc

   7. science the signals that may be detected by a
      measurement which are not due to the phenomenon being
      studied, and tend to make the measurement uncertain to a
      greater or lesser degree. specifically: physics
      electronic noise present in a system using electronic
      measuring instrument or in a telecommunications system,
      which may hide and which must be differentiated from the
      desired signal; also called background noise or noise.
      pjc

   8. journalism an agreement between a journalist and an
      interviewee that the name of the interviewee will not be
      quoted in any publication, although the substance of the
      remarks may be reported; -- often used in the phrase "on
      background". compare deep background.
      pjc

   to place in the background, to make of little consequence.

   to keep in the background, to remain unobtrusive,
      inconspicuous or out of sight; -- of people.

   deep background, journalism the status of an interview
      which must not be quoted in a publication, even without
      attribution. compare background8.
      1913 webster +pjc
see also:
foreground noise deep background to place in the background to keep in the background background 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

background
     n 1: a person's social heritage: previous experience or training;
          "he is a lawyer with a sports background"
     2: the part of a scene or picture that lies behind objects in
        the foreground; "he posed her against a background of
        rolling hills" syn: ground
     3: information that is essential to understanding a situation
        or problem; "the embassy filled him in on the background
        of the incident" syn: background knowledge
     4: extraneous signals that can be confused with the phenomenon
        to be observed or measured; "they got a bad connection and
        could hardly hear one another over the background signals"
        syn: background signal
     5: relatively unimportant or inconspicuous accompanying
        situation; "when the rain came he could hear the sound of
        thunder in the background"
     6: the state of the environment in which a situation exists;
        "you can't do that in a university setting" syn: setting,
         scope
     7: computer science the area of the screen in graphical user
        interfaces against which icons and windows appear syn: desktop,
         screen background
     8: scenery hung at back of stage syn: backdrop, backcloth
     v : understate the importance or quality of; "he played down his
         royal ancestry" syn: play down, downplay ant: foreground,
          foreground
see also:
ground background knowledge background signal setting scope desktop 
screen background backdrop backcloth play down downplay 
foreground 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

155 moby thesaurus words for "background":
   action, agora, amphitheater, anagnorisis, angle, architectonics,
   architecture, arena, argument, athletic field, atmosphere,
   auditorium, back, backdrop, background detail, backstage,
   bear garden, behind the scenes, blaseness, bowl, boxing ring,
   breeding, bull ring, campus, canvas, catastrophe, characterization,
   circus, cockpit, coliseum, color, colosseum, complication,
   continuity, contrivance, course, credentials, curriculum vitae,
   decorative composition, decorative style, denouement, design,
   detail, development, device, distance, episode, experience, fable,
   falling action, family, field, figure, floor, foil,
   foreground detail, form, forum, gimmick, ground, gym, gymnasium,
   hall, hinterland, hippodrome, history, horizon, in the background,
   incident, inconspicuous, line, lists, local color, locale,
   marketplace, mat, milieu, mise-en-scene, mood, motif, movement,
   mythos, national style, obscurity, offing, open forum,
   ornamental motif, palaestra, parade ground, past experience,
   pattern, period style, peripeteia, pit, place, plan, platform,
   plot, practical knowledge, practice, precinct, prize ring,
   public square, purlieu, range, rear, recognition, remote distance,
   repeated figure, ring, rising action, sagacity, scene,
   scene of action, scenery, scheme, seasoning, secondary plot,
   setting, site, slant, sophistication, sphere, squared circle,
   stadium, stage, stage set, stage setting, story, structure, style,
   subject, subplot, switch, tempering, terrain, the distance,
   theater, thematic development, theme, tilting ground, tiltyard,
   tone, topic, touch, training, twist, unnoticed, unobtrusive,
   unseen, upbringing, vanishing point, walk, worldly wisdom,
   wrestling ring

[4] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

background n.,adj.,vt. common to do a task `in background' is to do
   it whenever foreground matters are not claiming your undivided
   attention, and `to background' something means to relegate it to a lower
   priority. "for now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; i'm
   working on the graph-printing problem in background." note that this
   implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in
   contrast to mainstream `back burner' which connotes benign neglect
   until some future resumption of activity. some people prefer to use the
   term for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds
   a tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an obstacle
   in creative work. compare amp off, slopsucker.

   technically, a task running in background is detached from the
   terminal where it was started and often running at a lower priority;
   oppose foreground. nowadays this term is primarily associated with
   unix, but it appears to have been first used in this sense on
   os/360.


see also:
foreground amp off slopsucker unix 

[5] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

background
     
        1.  a task running in the background a
        background task is detached from the terminal where it was
        started and often running at a lower priority; opposite of
        foreground.  this means that the task's input and output
        must be from/to files or other processes.
     
        nowadays this term is primarily associated with unix, but it
        appears to have been first used in this sense on os/360.
     
        compare amp off, batch, slopsucker.
     
        2.  for a human to do a task "in the background" is to
        do it whenever foreground matters are not claiming your
        undivided attention, and "to background" something means to
        relegate it to a lower priority.  "for now, we'll just print a
        list of nodes and links; i'm working on the graph-printing
        problem in the background."  note that this implies ongoing
        activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast
        to mainstream "back burner" which connotes benign neglect
        until some future resumption of activity.  some people prefer
        to use the term for processing that they have queued up for
        their unconscious minds often a fruitful tack to take upon
        encountering an obstacle in creative work.
     
        1996-05-28
     
     
see also:
foreground unix os/360 amp off batch slopsucker 

Background >> B Words
Background, definition of term: Background
background_pag1.html

Background Radi >> B Words
Background Radi, definition of term: Background Radi
background+radi_pag1.html

Julianne's Background Textures
...Each swatch can then be demonstrated as a full background by selecting ... ..
http://www.sfsu.edu/~jtolson/textures/textures.htm, score=100, date indexed=December 21, 2005, 2:57 am

The Background Sampler
...When specifying a background image (with BACKGROUND) it is a good idea ... Also, if the image you specify as a background has transparent areas, ... ..
http://home.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/bg/backgrounds.html, score=100, date indexed=December 21, 2005, 3:37 am

... ..
http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/, score=98, date indexed=December 21, 2005, 8:34 am

... ..
http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/index.html, score=97, date indexed=December 21, 2005, 8:34 am

Background Notes
...Search Background Notes Pages.   . Background Notes. Background Notes ... Within each Background Note is a link under "OFFICIAL NAME" that goes ... ..
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/, score=96, date indexed=January 26, 2006, 9:03 pm

background-records
... ..
http://www.background-records.de/, score=95, date indexed=December 29, 2005, 11:00 pm

Imagitek's Background Color Selector
...Background texture:. 3-D Diamonds Atomic Dots Black Marble Blue Lights Blue Stones Chessboard Clear Water Coinage Color Mist Confetti Daisies Lava Flow Liquid Gold Multicolor None Parchment Peach Texure Spiral Lines White Rings Wild Tiles Yellow Glow Copyright © Revised 2001 ImagiTek Network Graphic ... defaults to normal colors; texture overrides color background). ... ..
http://www.imagitek.com/bcs.html, score=95, date indexed=December 29, 2005, 6:43 pm

Background File provides detective software for criminal records and personal ...
...Do employment background checks.. Do criminal background checks.. ... do employment background checks, and verify background info with our ... ..
http://www.backgroundfile.com/, score=95, date indexed=December 29, 2005, 9:22 pm

Page 1 2 Next