DictionaryAI

compile

Saykuhm-PYLUS · UK/kəmˈpaɪl/AUS/kəmˈpɑɪl/

Verbcompiles, compiling, compiled

Noun pluralcompiles

8 meanings of compile

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To produce something by gathering pieces together from a variety of sources.

    Researchers compile data from dozens of studies to draw broader conclusions.

    The editor compiled the anthology from submissions sent in over the year.

    Similarassemble, collect, gather, collate, amass

    Note

    A word with a light-fingered past: it came through Old French from Latin compīlō, "to plunder", and taking pieces from elsewhere is still at its heart. What is compiled is assembled rather than invented, whether a dictionary, a timetable, a list or a body of data. The word credits the gathering and arranging, not original authorship, which is why Samuel Johnson compiled his dictionary rather than wrote it.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To use a compiler to turn source code into executable code.

    Developers compile the source code into a binary the operating system can execute.

    He compiled the application for both Windows and Linux.

    Similarbuild

    Oppositedecompile

    Note

    The programmer's transitive verb, and the step that comes before running: you compile a program, then run it to see whether it works. The object is the program or its source code, and the tool doing the translating is the compiler, a noun built on this verb. Keep it distinct from run or execute, which happen afterward, to the compiled result.

  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    Of source code, to be successfully processed by a compiler into executable code.

    Older code may not compile on modern systems without modification.

    The project finally compiled after hours of debugging.

    Note

    The same act seen from the code's side. Here the code is the subject and there is no object, so the verb reports an outcome. It is at home in complaints like it won't compile and in reports of relief after debugging. Unlike the transitive programming verb, it says nothing about who ran the compiler, only whether the code got through.

  4. 4
    nouncountable
    A single instance of processing source code into executable form.

    A full compile of the codebase can take several minutes on older hardware.

    The nightly compile failed because of a missing dependency.

    Similarbuild, compilation

    Note

    Programmers' shorthand that turns the verb into a countable noun. Managers can hope a project will need fewer compiles, and a tool can hold a list of faulty files until the next compile. It takes articles and a regular plural, compiles, and it treats each pass through the compiler as a single event in the rhythm of development.

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    In snooker, to build up a break by making a sequence of successful shots.

    Few players can compile centuries under that kind of pressure.

    The champion compiled a break of 147 to clinch the title.

    Similarmake, build

    Note

    The snooker verb for building a break. A player accumulates points shot by shot, and the object is the break itself or simply its score, as in Steve Davis compiled a 147. The image stays close to the gathering sense: the break is put together piece by piece over a run of shots, never struck in one blow.

Less common meanings

  1. 6
    verbobsolete
    To construct or build a physical structure.

    Kings would compile fortresses along the contested border.

    The masons compiled the cathedral over the course of a century.

    Note

    A builder's meaning now lost from the language. Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) has Merlin intending "a brasen wall in compas to compyle" about Cairmardin, so the verb raises a structure rather than assembling a text. Treat it as a sense for reading older poetry only. In your own writing, build or construct does this work.

  2. 7
    verbobsolete
    To write or compose an original work.
    They are at their leisure much given to poetry; in which they compile the praises of virtuous men and actions , satires against vice
    1690, William Temple, Miscellanea. The Second Part.
    Note

    Authorship itself, not assembly. In William Temple's Miscellanea (1690), poets "compile the praises of virtuous men", meaning they compose them, not collect them. When you meet the word in older prose, do not assume borrowed material. The line between original writing and the gathering sense is exactly the one the modern word insists on, and this obsolete use blurs it.

  3. 8
    verbobsoletetransitive
    To contain, include, or comprise something as its parts.
    After ſo long a race as I haue run / Through Faery land, vvhich thoſe ſix books cõpile [compile] / giue leaue to reſt me being halfe fordonne, / and gather to my ſelfe nevv breath avvhile.
    1595, Edmund Spenser, “[Amoretti.] Sonnet LXXX”
    Note

    Here the whole is the subject and the parts are the object. Spenser's Amoretti (1595) speaks of Faery land "which those six books compile": the books hold the land rather than being gathered from it. Like the old "build" meaning, it belongs to older verse. Today contain or comprise carries this sense.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English compilen, from Old French compiler, from Latin compīlō ("to plunder").