Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
reverse-engineer en · NOUN
Etymology
Back-formation from reverse engineering.
Meanings
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A person who reverse-engineers products.
A reverse-engineer can in theory do a variety of things with the information she obtains.
1998, M. Lemley, D. McGowan, “Legal Implications of Network Economic Effects”, in California Law Journal, volume 86, number 3, page 524:
Forms
Translations (9)
el ανάστροφος μηχανικός (one who reverse-engineers) · fi takaisinmallintaja (one who reverse-engineers) · cmn 逆向工程者 (one who reverse-engineers) · es ingeniero inverso (one who reverse-engineers) · fi reversaaja (one who reverse-engineers) · pl osoba uprawiająca inżynierię wsteczną (one who reverse-engineers) · cmn 反向工程者 (one who reverse-engineers) · es retroingeniero (one who reverse-engineers) · es ingeniero reverso (one who reverse-engineers)
reverse-engineer en · VERB
Etymology
Back-formation from reverse engineering.
Meanings
-
To derive or duplicate the design, technical specifications, manufacturing methods, or functionality of an object by studying an existing product, prototype, etc.
In theory, there should be no need to reverse-engineer a patented invention to get information about how to make it because the patent specification should inform the relevant technical community of how to make the invention.
2002, P. Samuelson, S. Scotchmer, “The Law and Economics of Reverse Engineering”, in The Yale Law Journal, volume 111, number 7, page 1584:1997, Roy A. Sorensen, "The Metaphysics of Precision and Scientific Language," Noûs, vol. 31, Supplement: Philosophical Perspectives, 11, p. 363,
Each creature was viewed as the artifact of a divine blueprint. The role of the biologist was to reverse engineer God's handiwork.
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To create or modify an implementation to better conform to a desired goal.
As a matter of preference, always prefer to reverse engineer a roof plan, even when one already exists, but both methods will be discussed here along with their benefits and drawbacks.
2012, Brian L. Smith, 3ds Max Design Architectural Visualization, →ISBN:When this happened, Braun said, the editors were often obliged to “reverse engineer” the episode, scouring hundreds of hours of footage to emphasize the few moments when the exemplary candidate might have slipped up, in an attempt to assemble an artificial version of history in which Trump’s shoot-from-the-hip decision made sense.
2018 December 27, Patrick Radden Keefe, “How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success”, in The New Yorker:Typically, you complete some design, some implementation, some testing, come up with some good ideas which you implement, and then reverse-engineer your implementation into an improved design.
2003, Per Kroll, Philippe Kruchten, The Rational Unified Process Made Easy, →ISBN:
Forms
Relateds
reverse engineering · deformulate · work backward
Synonyms
hack (duplicate a design)
Translations (9)
es hacer ingeniería inversa (duplicate design) · pl uprawiać inżynierię wsteczną (duplicate design) · fi takaisinmallintaa (duplicate design) · cmn 實施反向工程 /实施反向工程 (duplicate design) · cmn 進行逆向工程 /进行逆向工程 (duplicate design) · es realizar retroingeniería (duplicate design) · es ingenierizar reversamente (duplicate design) · cmn 逆向 (duplicate design) · fi reversata (duplicate design)