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

glitch \glitch\ n.
   1. a fault or defect in a system, plan, or machine.

   syn: bug.
        wordnet 1.5

   2. elect. a brief surge or interruption in the voltage in
      an electrical circuit or device.
      pjc

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

glitch
     n : a fault or defect in a system or machine syn: bug
see also:
bug 

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

glitch /glich/ very common; from german `glitschig' slippery, via
   yiddish `glitshen', to slide or skid 1. n. a sudden interruption in
   electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function. sometimes
   recoverable. an interruption in electric service is specifically called
   a `power glitch' also power hit, of grave concern because it usually
   crashes all the computers. in jargon, though, a hacker who got to the
   middle of a sentence and then forgot how he or she intended to complete
   it might say, "sorry, i just glitched". 2. vi. to commit a glitch. see
   gritch. 3. vt. stanford to scroll a display screen, esp. several
   lines at a time. waits terminals used to do this in order to avoid
   continuous scrolling, which is distracting to the eye. 4. obs. same as
   magic cookie, sense 2.

   all these uses of `glitch' derive from the specific technical meaning
   the term has in the electronic hardware world, where it is now
   techspeak. a glitch can occur when the inputs of a circuit change, and
   the outputs change to some random value for some very brief time
   before they settle down to the correct value. if another circuit
   inspects the output at just the wrong time, reading the random value,
   the results can be very wrong and very hard to debug a glitch is one of
   many causes of electronic heisenbugs.


see also:
power hit gritch waits magic cookie random heisenbug 

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

glitch
     
        /glich/ german "glitschen" to slip, via yiddish "glitshen",
        to slide or skid 1. electronics when the inputs of a
        circuit change, and the outputs change to some random value
        for some very brief time before they settle down to the
        correct value.  if another circuit inspects the output at just
        the wrong time, reading the random value, the results can be
        very wrong and very hard to debug a glitch is one of many
        causes of electronic heisenbugs.
     
        2. a sudden interruption in electric service, sanity,
        continuity, or program function.  sometimes recoverable.  an
        interruption in electric service is specifically called a
        "power glitch" or power hit, of grave concern because it
        usually crashes all the computers.  see also gritch.
     
        2. stanford to scroll a display screen, especially several
        lines at a time.  waits terminals used to do this in order
        to avoid continuous scrolling, which is distracting to the
        eye.
     
        4. obsolete.  same as magic cookie.
     
        jargon file
     
     
see also:
random heisenbug power hit gritch waits magic cookie 
jargon file 

Glitch >> G Words
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