control

An influence or authority over something.

Noun

An influence or authority over something.
- The government has complete control over the situation.
The method and means of governing the performance of any apparatus, machine or system, such as a lever, handle or button.
Restraint or ability to contain one's movements or emotions, or self-control.
- She had no control of her body as she tumbled downhill. She did not know up from down. It was not unlike being cartwheeled in a relentlessly crashing wave. - 2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel...
- The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you[…] "share the things you love with the...
A security mechanism, policy, or procedure that can counter system attack, reduce risks, and resolve vulnerabilities; a safeguard or countermeasure.
A means of monitoring for, and triggering intervention in, activities that are not going according to plan.
A control group or control experiment.
A duplicate book, register, or account, kept to correct or check another account or register.
- “The entries in the control accounts reflect respectively the effect of the transactions on the value of Korrinna company’s receivables (sales ledger control account) and payables (purchase ledger control account.” -...
- "Make sure you enter the total of any credit balances in the sales ledger into the Sales Ledger Control Account and the total of any debit balances in the purchase ledger into the Purchase Ledger Control Account." -...
- “Wages Control Account: This account records wage transactions in aggregate. Postings are made from wage analysis sheet. This account is debited with gross wages (paid and accrued) and is closed by transfer of direct...
An interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box.
Synonyms: widget
Any of the physical factors determining the climate of a place, such as latitude, distribution of land and water, altitude, exposure, prevailing winds, permanent high- or low-barometric-pressure areas, ocean currents, mountain barriers, soil, and vegetation.
A construction in which the understood subject of a given predicate is determined by an expression in context. See control.
A spirit that takes possession of a psychic or medium and allows other spirits to communicate with the living.
- "Ah, who are they? I wonder. Guides, controls, psychic entities of some kind. Who the agents of vengeance - or I should say justice - are, is really not essential." - 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please...
A checkpoint along an audax route.
- […] the self-acknowledged stereotype of the audaxer as a socially awkward middle-aged man, […] carefully avoiding eye contact as a volunteer serves him his cup of tea and plate of baked beans in one of the draughty...

Origin

From Middle English controllen, from Old French contrerole, from Medieval Latin contrārotulus (“a counter-roll or register used to verify accounts”), from Latin contrā (“against, opposite”) + Medieval Latin rotulus, Latin rotula (“roll, a little wheel”), diminutive of rota (“a wheel”). Partly displaced native Old English wealdan and Old English wieldan, whence their merged reflex English wield.

Verb

To exercise influence over; to suggest or dictate the behavior of.
- With a simple remote, he could control the toy truck.
- This was a wonderful advert for the Premier League, with both Chelsea and United intent on all-out attack - but Ferguson will be concerned at how his side lost their way after imperiously controlling much of the first...
- In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and...
Synonyms: besteer bewield manage puppeteer rule govern
To design (an experiment) so that the effects of one or more variables are reduced or eliminated.
To verify the accuracy of (something or someone, especially a financial account) by comparison with another account.
To call to account, to take to task, to challenge.
- I fortuned to come in, Thys rebell to behold, Whereof I hym controld; But he sayde that he wolde Agaynst my mynde and wyll In my church hawke styll. - c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John...
To hold in check, to curb, to restrain.
- Because only by the Capette Pellet method of hormonization can growers be assured of controlled dosage and uniform results. - 1956, American Poultry Journal, volume 87, page 32: