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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

first in first out en · NOUN

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) A method of inventory accounting that values items withdrawn from inventory at the cost of the oldest item assumed to remain in inventory.
  2. (uncountable) A policy of assigning priority to tasks and assignments that have arrived for service first.
    • To the onlooker, and particularly to those whose memories go back to pre-grouping days, the modern cavalcade of "V2s" and "B1s" is apt to become a little monotonous; but to any running man the general utility characteristics of these two classes are a perfect godsend at times of exceptional pressure, when it is often a case of "first in—first out" with locomotive allocations at sheds. 1949 November and December, O. S. Nock, “Twenty-Four Hours at York—2”, in Railway Magazine, pages 357–358:
  3. (uncountable) A type of queue data structure in which the oldest added items are retrieved first.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
first-in, first-out alternative lexicographic
first-in-first-out alternative lexicographic
first in, first out alternative lexicographic
first-in first-out alternative lexicographic

Relateds

first come first served

Synonyms

FIFO

Translations (7)

fi jonotapa (method and policy) · sv först till kvarn (method and policy) · fi ensin sisään ensin ulos (method and policy) · de der Reihe nach (method and policy) · cmn 先進先出 /先进先出 (method and policy) · sv först in först ut (method and policy) · ko 선입선출 (method and policy)