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log1

Syllabification: (log)
Pronunciation: /lôg, läg/
Translate log | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of log

noun

  • 1a part of the trunk or a large branch of a tree that has fallen or been cut off.
  • 2 (also logbook) an official record of events during the voyage of a ship or aircraft:a ship’s log
  • a regular or systematic record of incidents or observations:keep a detailed log of your activities
  • 3an apparatus for determining the speed of a ship, originally consisting of a float attached to a knotted line wound on a reel, the distance run out in a certain time being used as an estimate of the vessel’s speed.

verb (logs, logging, logged)

[with object]
  • 1enter (an incident or fact) in the log of a ship or aircraft or in another systematic record:the incident has to be logged the red book where we log our calls
  • (of a ship, aircraft, or pilot) achieve (a certain distance, speed, or time):she had logged more than 12,000 miles since she had been launched
  • make a systematic recording of (events, observations, or measurements):the virus can log keystrokes that you make when you access all sorts of services
  • 2cut down (an area of forest) in order to exploit the timber commercially.

Phrases

(as) easy as falling off a log

informal very easy.

Phrasal Verbs

log in (or on)

go through the procedures to begin use of a computer, database, or system.

log off (or out)

go through the procedures to conclude use of a computer, database, or system.

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'bulky mass of wood'): of unknown origin; perhaps symbolic of the notion of heaviness. log1 (sense 3 of the noun) originally denoted a thin quadrant of wood loaded to float upright in the water, whence 'ship's journal' in which information from the log board was recorded

log in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of log in the British & World English dictionary