# daemon

Pronunciation: say "DEE-muhn" /ˈdiː.mən/

## Noun

1. A background computer process that runs without a controlling terminal.
   - Simple: A computer program that runs quietly in the background, with no screen or window for you to control it.
   - _The web server relies on a daemon to handle incoming connections around the clock._
   - _System administrators restart the logging daemon after changing its configuration._
3. A minor deity or divinity, ranking below the major gods in myth and religious belief.
   - Simple: A lesser god or spirit in old myths and beliefs, not as powerful as the main gods.
   - _Socrates spoke of a daemon that warned him away from wrong choices._
   - _Country folk left small offerings for the daemons of field and forest._
4. A muse or personified source of inspiration, especially one that also causes anguish to the artist it drives.
   - Simple: A force inside someone that drives them to create, and that often brings them pain too.
   - _The composer described his creative daemon as both a gift and a torment._
   - _Every poem she finished seemed to feed the daemon that drove her onward._
5. A concept or idea represented as though it were a living entity.
   - Simple: An idea shown as if it were a living being or creature.
   - _In her essay, progress becomes a restless daemon that can never stop building._
   - _The philosopher personified doubt as a daemon perched on every certainty._

## Noun

2. Another spelling of demon: an evil spirit, especially one thought to serve the Devil or to torment people. *(rare, Commonwealth)* — Alternative spelling of demon.
   - Simple: Another spelling of demon: an evil spirit.
   - _The poem describes a daemon whispering doubts into the sleeper's ear._
   - _Medieval manuscripts often pictured a daemon lurking near the gates of hell._

## Origin

**Meanings 2–5** — Ancient Greek δαίμων (daímōn) meant "dispenser" or "tutelary deity." Latin took it as daemōn ("tutelary deity"), and English borrowed it from Latin.
**Meaning 1** — This computing sense alludes to Maxwell's demon. People sometimes claim the word is short for "disk and execution monitor," but that expansion is usually treated as a backronym, invented after the word already existed.

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