black box

noun, verb — 7 senses

black box

noun

/ˈblæk.bɒx/

Etymology * Since c. 1945 in both main senses (that is, event recorders and objects with unknown innards), which are historically related to each other; for details, see black box § History and flight recorder § Terminology. * (a type of theater): Such theaters are often painted black.

1

Aeronautics, Aerospace, Aviation, Business, Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences Informal A flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident.

  • scrutinizing all utterances recorded by the black box
2

Transport Broadly Any similar device on motor vehicles, such as rail event recorders and ship trip recorders.

  • the pilothouse's analogue of an airliner's black box
3

A theoretical construct or device with known input and output characteristics but unknown method of operation.

  • The authentication method and its details can be treated as a black box for purposes of this security architecture overview.
4

A device used in phreaking that prevents the calling party from being billed for the call placed.

5

Broadcasting, Drama, Dramaturgy, Entertainment, Film, Lifestyle, Media, Television, Theater A type of theater characterized by a lack of decoration or complex mechanisms.

6

Synonym of football (“the leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President”)

Related terms
black box insurance, black-box testing, black body, black magic, black box warning
Hyponyms
CVR, flight data recorder, VDR
Coordinate terms
body camera, dashcam, QAR

black box

verb

Etymology * Since c. 1945 in both main senses (that is, event recorders and objects with unknown innards), which are historically related to each other; for details, see black box § History and flight recorder § Terminology. * (a type of theater): Such theaters are often painted black.

1

To focus on the inputs and outputs without worrying about the internal complexity.

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Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.