internet

name

1. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of Internet (“the specific internet consisting of a global network of computers that communicate using Internet Protocol (IP) and that use Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to identify the best paths to route those communications”).

   “Most newspapers are available on the internet now.”

   “The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", "share the things you love with the world" and so on.”

   “He was able to do this because the internet, which had been publicly available since January 1983, enabled it.”

2. (alt-of)Alternative letter-case form of Internet (“global community of individuals communicating via the Internet”).

   “As soon as the trailer was released, the internet went nuts.”

   “In 2014, a hot dog entrepreneur, Laura Ustick, general manager of Superdawg in Chicago, Illinois, asked the internet to get behind her in support of the Emoji Hot Dog.”

   “On Friday, as the internet reacted to the video of Thomas getting arrested for walking in the street, the city rushed out a statement explaining what happened around noon last Wednesday.”

   “One of their most recognised challenges was posting a photo of an animal from their collection and challenging users to Photoshop that image into other paintings. @TheMERL gave the call to action and the internet answered.”

3. The global, decentralized network of computers which communicate with one another using the Internet protocol suite, which now forms a vital part of global communication, content sharing, and information exchange systems.

   “2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreword", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xi [I]f you think the Internet existed in 1970, I can only guess that the education system has left at least one child behind.”

4. (broadly, informal)The global community of individuals communicating via the Internet.

   “We know how much the Internet has changed America. And we are already an open society. Imagine how much it could change China. Now, there is no question – China has been trying to crack down on the Internet. Good luck. That's sort of like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.”

   “Not to be confused with the Josh Hutcherson Saturday Night Live sketch that's almost impossible to find online, the tragedy of Peanut, an Instagram-famous squirrel that was euthanized late last month, has sent the internet into mourning.”

noun

1. (uncountable)Internet access or connection; internet connectivity.

   “Do you have internet at your place? My internet is down and I want to check my email.”

2. (countable)Any set of computer networks that communicate using the Internet Protocol; an intranet.
3. (Internet, countable, humorous, uncountable)A fictitious unit of scoring awarded for making outstanding posts on the internet.

   “You did a nice job there Patty … you came off as intelligent, well-spoken, and concerned about the well being of the victims, in stark contrast to the self-serving, uncaring, unconcerned attitude of the Narconon spokeswoman. 100 internets for you!”

   “I have been looking through CupOJoes and kind of want something dark with a silver band between the bit and the bowl [of the pipe]. That's not a must, but 1000 internets go to the first person to find one.”

   “You win one internet.”

   “I hope this is sarcastic. Otherwise -100 internets for you.”

   “Do I win an internet?”

4. (Internet, countable, humorous, uncountable)The knowledge or ability to read the room, especially to avoid being politically incorrect, chiefly to make light of someone's lack of such knowledge, implied to be gained only from active use of social media.

   “"He don't got Internet y'all," one fan wrote. Another declared: "That’s it, I will no longer be listening to any YB music."”

verb

1. (Internet, informal, intransitive)To use the internet; specifically, to search for information by using the internet.

   “Having no idea what that means, I am internetting like mad.”

   “We have several groups of Internetters, from Alaska, from New Zealand, and a group from San Francisco interested in deserts as a context where different faiths developed. Internetting with them could stimulate discussion. Internetting with other countries is seen as a way of broadening the students' areas of interest and triggering their questions.”

   “Most of us, before and after the second uprising, can be found in schools, offices, or factories, going about our everyday lives. Dreaming, working hard for a future. Texting, internetting, entertaining ourselves in the present.”

   “I collect cookbooks, too. And recipes, you know, that I've internetted.”

2. (ambitransitive, archaic, rare)To entwine or link (several things) together, so as to form a network; to interconnect, to network.

   “A railroad performs in a single day as much work as a ship in a whole year. This is done, too, in the midst of society, internetted among the cities, the farms, the dwellings of the people.”

   “With 1849 began the organization of the secret societies, which, regulated from Piedmont, internetted the entire southern peninsula.”

   “Thus silent and imperceptible is the webwork of material interests which are internetting the great family of nations with the bonds of peace.”

   “As the light filters through some gap in the topmost boughs into the damp atmosphere, it magnifies and confuses the foliage, and lights up thousands of monkey-ropes, or lianas, that hang from every branch through the forests and which stretch without beginning and without end, hanging loosely like gymnasium ropes, or swung up again in a giant loop, often twisting into fantastic knots as it internets with some other portion of the mighty cable.”

   “ARTHROPYRENIA. Mass. Paraphyses loosely branching and internetting or absent; spores 2 to 6-locular, colorless, ovoid or oblong.”

3. (ambitransitive, specifically)To connect (a computer, an electronic device, etc.) into a computer network (in particular, the Internet).

   “We are continuing our program of internetting our radar system with that of the Federal Aviation Agency.”

   “More efficient means of internetting the computers in the system must also be developed.”

   “Other less dynamic examples of information networks include intelligence or military command centers, internetted with communications including different kinds of voice circuits, (i.e., encrypted and non encrypted), data communications, teletype, facsimile, and the like.”

   “[…] Soviet interceptors have been internetted with radars, enabling the use of early-warning radars to track reentry vehicles for interception. […] [T]he Soviets have evidently internetted their SA-5, not with earlier mechanical radars, but with phased-array systems that are far more adequate for reentry vehice tracking purposes.”

   “We hear that Air Force Intelligence has officially concluded the Soviets have rolled production lines to break out of the ABM treaty and deploy a nationwide anti-missile system, which could possibly be in place by next year. […] [T]he Soviets are internetting their early-warning radars […]”