# console

Pronunciation: say "kuhn-SOHL" US /kənˈsoʊl/, UK /kənˈsəʊl/

## Verb

1. To comfort someone in a time of grief, disappointment, or other distress.
   - Simple: To try to make someone feel better when they are sad or upset.
   - _Neighbors came by all week to console the family after the funeral._
   - _He consoled himself with the thought that the next race was only a month away._

## Noun

Pronunciation: say "KON-sohl" US /ˈkɑn.soʊl/, UK /ˈkɒn.səʊl/

2. Short for video game console. — Abbreviation of video game console.
   - Simple: Short for video game console, a machine for playing games on a TV.
   - _I play most racing games on a console these days instead of my laptop._
   - _The company plans to release its next console in time for the holidays._
3. A cabinet, table, or stand shaped like a desk, with controls, instruments, and displays mounted on it.
   - Simple: A desk or stand with buttons, switches, and screens built into it.
   - _The pilots' console was a wide steel desk crowded with dials and switches._
   - _Workers bolted the new console to the control-room floor before wiring the instruments into it._
4. A storage tray or compartment fitted between the seats of a car.
   - Simple: A box or tray between the seats of a car for keeping small things.
   - _Could you grab my sunglasses out of the center console?_
   - _The new SUV has a deep console between the front seats with room for a laptop._
5. The keyboard and screen of a computer or similar electronic device, taken together.
   - Simple: The keyboard and screen of a computer or other machine.
   - _Error messages scrolled across the server's console all night._
   - _She left the console unlocked when she went to lunch, so anyone could have typed commands._
6. A control station combining screens and an input device, from which an operator monitors and runs an electronic system.
   - Simple: A machine with screens and controls that people use to watch and run an electronic system.
   - _From a single console, one operator controls every signal on this stretch of track._
   - _The flight director followed the launch on a console showing the rocket's speed and fuel pressure._
7. A freestanding cabinet made to stand on the floor, especially one with a television, stereo, or other home entertainment equipment built in.
   - Simple: A large cabinet that stands on the floor, often with a TV or music player built in.
   - _The movie's soundtrack boomed from the console in the corner of the den._
   - _They sold the walnut stereo console at a yard sale, record player and all._
8. An ornamental bracket or projecting support jutting from a wall to carry a weight above it, often S-shaped.
   - Simple: A decorative piece that sticks out from a wall to hold up something above it.
   - _Carved stone consoles hold up the balcony above the front entrance._
   - _A single console, curled like an S, supports the heavy marble shelf over the fireplace._
9. A decorative frame or support surrounding a heraldic shield, whether carved on a building, drawn, or otherwise depicted.
   - Simple: A fancy frame or holder around a coat of arms on a building or in a picture.
   - _Above the chapel door, the family's arms sit on a carved console flanked by two angels._
   - _The illuminator placed the bishop's shield on an elaborate gilded console at the top of the page._

## Origin

**Meanings 2–9** — Borrowed from French console ("bracket"), from consoler ("to console, to comfort"); the bracket sense may come from a bracket easing a load, or from brackets decorated with the figure of a consolateur ("consoler"). It was used first for the bracket itself, then for wall-mounted tables and free-standing tables placed against a wall. Its use for control systems dates at least to the 1880s ("organ console"), spread to radio and television equipment by the 1930s, and was popularized in computing by mainframes such as the IBM 704 (1954).
**Meaning 1** — Borrowed from French consoler, from Latin cōnsōlor ("I console, I offer solace"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *selh₂- ("mercy, comfort"), which also gave solace.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/console (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).