codes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of code.

   Building codes differ from one city to the next.

   Cryptographers spent years trying to break the enemy's wartime codes.

   Note

   A plural that belongs to the countable uses of code: separate bodies of law, distinct rule systems such as building codes, individual ciphers, single codewords or code points. When code names the representation itself rather than one system of it, as in a message written in code, it is uncountable and takes no plural.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of code.

   Each gene codes for a specific protein within the cell.

   The hospital clerk codes every diagnosis before sending the file to billing.

   Note

   Its construction shifts with the meaning. When it means writing software, it often stands alone (she codes in the evenings). When it means tagging data or categorizing records, it takes a direct object (the clerk codes every diagnosis). In genetics it is intransitive and pairs with for, so a gene codes for a protein. The same spelling also serves as the plural noun.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2