extern

noun, adj — 5 senses

extern

noun

/ˈɛkˌstɜː(ɹ)n/

Etymology From Middle French externe or its etymon Latin externus.

1

A person affiliated with an institution in a lesser capacity, for example, as a non-resident or as a part-time affiliate.

2

A day-scholar.

3

Outward form or part; exterior.

extern

adj

Etymology From Middle French externe or its etymon Latin externus.

1

Obsolete, Rare External; outward; not inherent

  • Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, / But seeming so, for my particular end, / For when my outward action doth demonstrate / The native act and figure of my heart / In complement extern, 'tis not long after / But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve / For daws to peck at.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
  • For if the ſoul of man vvere emancipated by virtue, it vvould not need any regulation or monition, beſides that of its invvard Tribunal; vvhich becauſe ſin does uſurp upon, has ſome relief from thoſe extern adjuments.1663, Edward Waterhous[e], chapter XIV, in Fortescutus Illustratus; or A Commentary on that Nervous Treatise De Laudibus Legum Angliæ, Written by Sir John Fortescue Knight, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Roycroft for Thomas Dicas […], →OCLC, page 214:
Derived terms
externment

extern

noun

Etymology Short for external; used as a keyword in these programming languages.

1

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Programming, Sciences In the C and C++ programming languages, a variable that can be separately declared in many places, all of them referring to the same variable.

  • Finally, get rid of the two function declarations and two externs that we added at the top of TEFIL.CPP so that we could support file_open().1995, Martin L. Rinehart, Learn C++ Today!, page 552:
  • This is probably the big thing with C++, the more you can avoid global concepts and nasty externs the better, an object/class should be totally self-contained.2018, Brian Beuken, The Fundamentals of C/C++ Game Programming:

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