Fwd: "chad" - Word of the Day from the OED

[Dave Monroe]

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From:  <oedwotd at oup.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Subject: "chad" - Word of the Day from the OED
To: OEDWOTD-AMER-L at webber.uk.oup.com

chad, n.2

ADDITIONS SERIES 1993
Telegr. and Computing.

(tæd)  [Origin unknown.]

    (A piece of) the waste material removed from punched cards or tape
during punching.

1959 J. W. FREEBODY Telegr. xi. 460/2 The small hinged discs of paper,
called 'chads', remain attached to the body of the tape. 1968 J.
BLACKBURN Nothing but Night vii. 64 The machines..spewed out the
sixty-four-row punch cards... At the base of each machine was a vacuum
tube to remove the dust and the chads. 1982 Computerworld 9 Aug. 59
The reader head is mounted on the front of the unit next to the chad
box.

    Hence chadless a., not producing or accompanied by chads.

1959 J. W. FREEBODY Telegr. xi. 460/2 In order..that the printed
characters are completely legible, the tape is perforated by the
chadless method. 1971 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.)
III. iii. 19 Chadless perforation. 1984 U.S. Patent 4,425,394 1 Each
tag has a chadless hole provided by a pattern of knife cuts.

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