label

1. 1

   A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.

   • We laughed at her because the label was still on her new sweater.
   • The label says this silk scarf should not be washed in the washing machine.
2. 2

   A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.

   • Ever since he started going to the rock club, he's been given the label "waster".
3. 3

   A company that sells records.

   • The label signed the band after hearing a demo tape.
4. 4

   A user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration.

   • Storage devices can be given by label or ID.
5. 5

   A named place in source code that can be jumped to using a GOTO or equivalent construct.

6. 6

   A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.

7. 7

   A tassel.obsolete

   • the arms or escutcheon of France , hanging by a label on an oak
8. 8

   A small strip, especially of paper or parchment (or of some material attached to parchment to carry the seal), but also of iron, brass, land, etc.

   • Ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, / Shall be the label to another deed.
   • They […] 'sealed the grave, and rolled a great stone at the mouth of it' and as an ancient tradition says, bound it about with labels of iron.
9. 9

   A piece of writing added to something, such as a codicil appended to a will.

10. 10

    A brass rule with sights, formerly used with a circumferentor to take altitudes.historical

1. 1

   To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).transitive

   • The shop assistant labeled all the products in the shop.
2. 2

   To give (a label) to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.ambitransitiveditransitive

   • He's been unfairly labeled as a cheat, although he's only ever cheated once.
3. 3

   To replace specific atoms by their isotope in order to track the presence or movement of this isotope through a reaction, metabolic pathway or cell.

4. 4

   To add a detectable substance, either transiently or permanently, to a biological substance in order to track the presence of the label-substance combination either in situ or in vitro

   • They may be used to label and image a protein within tissue, to isolate cells on the basis of marker expression, or to physically capture a protein from a complex biological mixture....

syn. categorise · compartmentalise · peg · pigeonhole