container

Noun

1. Someone who contains; something that contains.

   1. An item in which objects, materials or data can be stored or transported.

   2. (transport) A very large, typically metal, box used for transporting goods.

      • Will container development merely bring about a substitution for the body of the covered wagon? Probably not, in his view, but he believes that the size and tonnage of the container are likely to increase pari passu...
      • The specifiers of the Freightliner network had the foresight to base the rail journey on carrying ISO containers which are 8ft wide and originally 8ft tall (although now increased to a height of 9ft 6ins), with a...
      • On a damp and blustery morning, three-metre swells crash into the cracked hull of the MSC Baltic III, which was grounded on a pinnacle of rock on the west coast of Newfoundland earlier this year. The wind carries whiffs...

      Synonyms: cargo container shipping container

   3. (by extension) Someone who holds people in their seats or in a (reasonably) calm state.

   4. (computing) (file format) A file format that can hold various types of data.

      • As the MP4 container can store audio, video, or both, the M4A naming and file extension is used to hint that this MP4 container holds solely audio information. - 2011, Cory Altheide, Harlan Carvey, Digital Forensics...

      Synonyms: container format

   5. (computing) (object-oriented programming) An abstract data type whose instances are collections of other objects.

      • This advantage is the primary incentive for using a list container, rather than a vector or a deque. - 2015, Ivor Horton, Using the C++ Standard Template Libraries, Apress, →ISBN, page 64:

   6. (computing) (graphical user interface) Any user interface component that can hold further (child) components.

      • Flex automatically creates a TabBar container at the top of the TabNavigator container, with a tab corresponding to each child container. Each tab can have its own label and icon. - 2007, Rich Tretola, Simon Barber,...

   7. (computing) (Java programming language) A web container.

   8. (computing) (cloud computing) A bundle consisting of operating system, application code and dependencies to be run sandboxed inside a virtualized environment; (by extension) the environment itself.

      • Generally, when people think of serverless computing, they tend to think of applications with back-ends that run on third-party services, also described as code running on ephemeral containers. - 2017, Maddie Stigler,...
      • The application components all run in containers. They are isolated like VMs but lightweight and efficient like PaaS services. - 2020, Elton Stoneman, chapter 1, in Learn Docker in a Month of Lunches, →ISBN:

      Synonyms: software container

   9. (crosswording) A type of cryptic device where one word is inserted into another.

      • As with all varieties of cryptic clues, the container device can be used in conjunction with other devices, especially in more complex cryptic crosswords. - 2012 June 13, Denise Sutherland, Solving Cryptic Crosswords...
      • Container word clues are actually three clues in one. - 2013 July 1, John P.Stewart, Don't Let Cryptic Crossword Clues Fool You: Intellectual Stimulation and Mental Alertness Guaranteed, Booktango, →ISBN:
      • We have already mentioned 'in' having multiple uses; 'round' or 'around' might be a container indicator or a reversal indicator; 'without' might be a container indicator or a deletion indicator, and so on. - 2020 August...