different between wildcard vs glob

English

Etymology

wild +? card

Noun

wildcard (plural wildcards)

1. (computing) A character that takes the place of any other character or string that is not known or specified.
   • 1968, Digital Equipment Corporation, VAX/VMS 319(5864), page 751, Section 2.1.2 Using Wildcard Characters

     A wildcard character is a symbol that you can use with many DCL commands to apply the command to several files at once, rather than specifying each file individually.

   If the character * is acting as a wildcard, then the pattern a*m matches each of the words amalgam, atom and alum.

2. (also written wild card) An uncontrolled or unpredictable element.
   • 2008 February 8, Eli Kintisch, "From Gasoline Alleys to Electric Avenues" [1], Science 319(5864), page 751

     There are several technical wildcards, such as how the larger battery packs--four times larger than those of the Prius--will withstand the rigors of city driving, […]

3. (also written wild card) An element, often deliberately concealed, which is withheld for contingency.
4. (sports, card games) Alternative form of wild card

Usage notes

A wild card in card games is usually written as two separate words. The computing term is usually written as one compound word.

Translations

Spanish

Noun

wildcard m (plural wildcards)

1. wildcard

English

Etymology

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Possibly a blend of blob +? gob or a clipping of globule. An element of sound symbolism is clearly involved: compare such phonetically and semantically similar words as glop, gop, blob, clump and clod. (Still, globe, clump and clod may be related via the Proto-Indo-European root *gel-; compare clew.)

In the biological sense, proposed by Bevil R. Conway and Doris Y. Tsao, by analogy with the cytochrome-oxidase "blobs" of V1, an earlier stage in the hierarchical elaboration of colour.(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?l?b/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l?b/

Noun

glob (plural globs)

1. A round, shapeless or amorphous lump, as of a semisolid substance.

   He put a glob of paint into the cup and went on painting.

2. (programming) A limited pattern matching technique using wildcards, less powerful than a regular expression.
3. (biology) A millimeter-sized colour module found beyond the visual area V2 in the brain's parvocellular pathway.

See also

• Glob (programming) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

glob (third-person singular simple present globs, present participle globbing, simple past and past participle globbed)

1. To stick in globs or lumps.
2. (programming) To carry out pattern matching using a glob.

References

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “glob”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Blog, GLBO, LGBO, blog

Polish

Etymology

From Latin globus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?p/

Noun

glob m inan

1. planet, globe

Declension

Further reading

• glob in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• glob in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

From French globe, from Latin globus.

Noun

glob n (plural globuri)

1. globe (all senses)

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

glob c

1. a globe

Declension

Related terms

• global
• jordglob
• Globen = Stockholm Globe Arena