console

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a small table fixed to a wall or designed to stand against a wall
  2. noun a scientific instrument consisting of displays and an input device that an operator can use to monitor and control a system (especially a computer system)
  3. noun an ornamental scroll-shaped bracket (especially one used to support a wall fixture)

Etymology

Borrowed from French console (“bracket”, noun), from consoler (“to console, to comfort”, verb). Sense of “bracket” either due to a bracket alleviating the load, or due to brackets being decorated with the Christian figure of a consolateur (“consoler”), itself perhaps a pun on the first sense (alleviating load). Originally used for the bracket itself, then for wall-mounted tables (mounted with a bracket), then for free-standing tables placed against a wall. Use for control system dates at least to 1880s for an “organ console”; use for electrical or electronic control systems dates at least to 1930s in radio, television, and system control, particularly as “mixer console” or “control console”, attached to an equipment rack. This was popularized in computers by mainframes such as the IBM 704 (1954) in terms such as “operator’s console” or “console typewriter”, and then generalized to any attached equipment, particularly for user interaction. The automotive sense harks back to earlier use as “support”.

In classic literature

Synonyms

console table

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