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

interpreter \inter"preter\, n. cf. of. entrepreteur, l.
   interpretator.
   one who or that which interprets, explains, or expounds; a
   translator; especially, a person who translates orally
   between two parties.
   1913 webster

         we think most men's actions to be the interpreters of
         their thoughts.                          --locke.
   1913 webster

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

interpreter
     n 1: someone who mediates between speakers of different languages
          syn: translator
     2: someone who uses art to represent something; "his paintings
        reveal a sensitive interpreter of nature"; "she was famous
        as an interpreter of shakespearean roles"
     3: an advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose;
        "the meeting was attended by spokespersons for all the
        major organs of government" syn: spokesperson, representative,
         voice
     4: computer science a program that translates and executes
        source language statements one line at a time syn: interpretive
        program
see also:
translator spokesperson representative voice interpretive program 

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

52 moby thesaurus words for "interpreter":
   allegorist, annotator, artist, artiste, cicerone, clarifier,
   commentator, concert artist, critic, cryptanalyst, cryptographer,
   cryptologist, decoder, definer, demonstrator, demythologizer,
   diaskeuast, dragoman, editor, emendator, emender, euhemerist,
   executant, exegesist, exegete, exegetist, explainer, explicator,
   exponent, expositor, expounder, go-between, guide, hermeneut,
   lexicographer, maestro, metaphrast, minstrel, minstrelsy,
   music maker, musician, oneirocritic, paraphrast, performer, player,
   scholiast, soloist, textual critic, translator, tunester, virtuosa,
   virtuoso

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

interpreter
     
         a program which executes other programs.  this
        is in contrast to a compiler which does not execute its
        input program the "source code" but translates it into
        executable "machine code" also called "object code"
        which is output to a file for later execution.  it may be
        possible to execute the same source code either directly by an
        interpreter or by compiling it and then executing the machine
        code produced.
     
        it takes longer to run a program under an interpreter than to
        run the compiled code but it can take less time to interpret
        it than the total required to compile and run it.  this is
        especially important when prototyping and testing code when an
        edit-interpret-debug cycle can often be much shorter than an
        edit-compile-run-debug cycle.
     
        interpreting code is slower than running the compiled code
        because the interpreter must analyse each statement in the
        program each time it is executed and then perform the desired
        action whereas the compiled code just performs the action.
        this run-time analysis is known as "interpretive overhead".
        access to variables is also slower in an interpreter because
        the mapping of identifiers to storage locations must be done
        repeatedly at run time rather than at compile time.
     
        there are various compromises between the development speed
        when using an interpreter and the execution speed when using a
        compiler.  some systems e.g. some lisps allow interpreted
        and compiled code to call each other and to share variables.
        this means that once a routine has been tested and debugged
        under the interpreter it can be compiled and thus benefit from
        faster execution while other routines are being developed.
        many interpreters do not execute the source code as it stands
        but convert it into some more compact internal form.  for
        example, some basic interpreters replace keywords with
        single byte tokens which can be used to index into a jump
        table.  an interpreter might well use the same lexical
        analyser and parser as the compiler and then interpret the
        resulting abstract syntax tree.
     
        there is thus a spectrum of possibilities between interpreting
        and compiling, depending on the amount of analysis performed
        before the program is executed.  for example emacs lisp is
        compiled to "byte-code" which is a highly compressed and
        optimised representation of the lisp source but is not machine
        code and therefore not tied to any particular hardware.
        this "compiled" code is then executed interpreted by a byte
        code interpreter itself written in c.  the compiled code
        in this case is machine code for a virtual machine which
        is implemented not in hardware but in the byte-code
        interpreter.
     
        see also partial evaluation.
     
        1995-01-30
     
     
see also:
compiler source code machine code object code machine code lisp 
basic keywords index jump table lexical analyser 
parser abstract syntax tree emacs lisp byte-code byte code interpreter 
c virtual machine partial evaluation 

[5] : Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)

interpreter. one employed to make a translation. q v.
     2. an interpreter should be sworn before he translates the testimony of 
a witness. 4 mass. 81; 5 mass. 219; 2 caines' rep. 155. 
     3. a person employed between an attorney and client to act as 
interpreter, is considered merely as the organ between them, and is not 
bound to testify as to what be has acquired in those confidential 
communications. 1 pet. c. c. r.. 356; 4 munf. r. 273; 1 wend. r. 337. vide 
confidential communications. 

[6] : THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993)

interpreter, n.  one who enables two persons of different languages to
understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to
the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said.

Interpreter >> I Words
Interpreter, definition of term: Interpreter
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