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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

IBM en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Canada) audio
  • /ˌʌɪbiːˈɛm/

Meanings

  1. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable) Initialism of intercontinental ballistic missile.
    • They see this last possibility in an international agreement to stop further atomic and thermonuclear bomb tests and halt the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (IBMs). 1956 June, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 12, number 6, page 186:
    • Today we need a defense against IBM attack. When as chief of R&D I urged Army Ordnance to develop an antimissile missile, I heard repeatedly that you can't hit a bullet with a bullet, so it is impossible to develop such a missile. 1987, Kenneth David Nichols, The Road to Trinity, page 294:
    • Thus, they limit to a strictly defined number the quantity of armed IBMs in the USSR and the United States, as well as ballistic missiles of submarines. 1990, William Elliott Butler, Perestroika and International Law, page 155:
  2. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable) Initialism of inclusion body myositis.
  3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) A company that dominates its field.
    • First, to Sperry Univac, the descendent^([sic]) of the first real computer company, which might have become the IBM of the industry had it not blown its early lead; 1982, Tracy Kidder, The Soul Of A New Machine, →ISBN, page 238:
    • Univac was the IBM of the computer industry's incipiency; in 1952 Univac had virtually 100% of the market. 1968, George Washington University, Computers-in-Law Institute, National Law Center, The Law of Software: 1968 Proceedings
    • The US lead was mainly due to one firm, the IBM of its small, specialized field: Cray Research Inc. 1990, Alfred Balk, The Myth of American Eclipse: The New Global Age, →ISBN, page 81:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
IBMs Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

ICBM

wikidata: Q177471

Source: en.wiktionary, “IBM” (noun), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

IBM en · PROPN

Pronunciation

  • (Canada) audio
  • /ˌʌɪbiːˈɛm/

Meanings

  1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism) Initialism of International Business Machines.
    • "I was one of them," recalled Mr. Detmer, who is now 47. "When I graduated from high school in 1966, I got my first job working on the assembly line at the I.B.M. plant, where I earned $2 an hour putting together mainframe computers. 1994 October 30, Penny Singer, “Bob Detmer, a Visionary Video Maker”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2022:
    • The study found that U.S. technology company IBM had by far the largest number of AI-related patents, with 8,920. 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America, archived from the original on 07 Feb 2019:
  2. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism) Initialism of International Brotherhood of Magicians.
  3. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism) Initialism of Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc.

Deriveds

IBMese · IBMer · IBM PC · IBM Pollyanna Principle · IBM-compatible

Translations (11)

it SIMC (International Business Machines) · fr SIMC (International Business Machines) · ar أيبيإم (International Business Machines) · tr IBM (International Business Machines) · tr UİM (International Business Machines) · ru Ай-Би-Э́м (International Business Machines) · it IBM (International Business Machines) · ar آي بي إم (International Business Machines) · fr IBM (International Business Machines) · ja アイ・ビー・エム (International Business Machines) · pl IBM (International Business Machines)