compile meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

compile

verb

US, UK /kəmˈpaɪl/ · AU /kəmˈpɑɪl/

Etymology From Middle English compilen, from Old French compiler, from Latin compīlō (“to plunder”).

7 senses

To make by gathering pieces from various sources.

Samuel Johnson compiled one of the most influential dictionaries of the English language.
So what is it that makes SBB (Swiss national railways) tick? In my humble opinion, two things. Firstly, a comprehensive and set-in-stone integrated timetable (incorporating trains, ferries, cable cars and buses, including the world-famous yellow 'post-autos'), compiled four years in advance and which gets tested twice before it becomes operational.2025 October 15, Vitali Vitaliev, “The recipe for Swiss bliss”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 68:

Obsolete To construct; to build.

Before that Merlin dyde, he did intend / A brasen wall in compas to compyle / About Cairmardin […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Snooker, Sports To achieve (a break) by making a sequence of shots.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences To use a compiler to process source code and produce executable code.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences To be successfully processed by a compiler into executable code.

Obsolete To contain or comprise.

After ſo long a race as I haue run / Through Faery land, vvhich thoſe ſix books cõpile [compile] / giue leaue to reſt me being halfe fordonne, / and gather to my ſelfe nevv breath avvhile.1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LXXX”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, signature F, verso:

Obsolete To write; to compose.

They are at their leisure much given to poetry; in which they compile the praises of virtuous men and actions , satires against vice1690, William Temple, Miscellanea. The Second Part. […], London: […] T. M. for Ri[chard] and Ra[lph] Simpson, […], →OCLC, section II, page 188:

Derived terms: autocompile, compilability, compilable, compiland, compilation, compilement, compiler, compilator, decompile, miscompile, noncompiled, noncompiling, precompile, recompile, uncompile, uncompiled
Hyponyms: cross-compile, transcompile

noun

Etymology From Middle English compilen, from Old French compiler, from Latin compīlō (“to plunder”).

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences An act of compiling code.

[…] programming team managers assumed the "improved programs" produced through structured programming would not require as many compiles during development.1985, Robert A Stern, An Introduction to Computers and Information Processing:
Any file with an error or warning on it will be added to this smart group until the next compile.2007, Scott Meyers, Mike Lee, MAC OS X Leopard: Beyond the Manual: