compile — English Dictionary

Verb

1. To make by gathering pieces from various sources.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   Samuel Johnson compiled one of the most influential dictionaries of the English language.

   More examples (1)

   So what is it that makes SBB (Swiss national railways) tick? In my humble opinion, two things. Firstly, a comprehensive and set-in-stone integrated timetable (incorporating trains, ferries, cable cars and buses, including the world-famous yellow 'post-autos'), compiled four years in advance and which gets tested twice before it becomes operational.

2. To construct; to build.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   Before that Merlin dyde, he did intend / A brasen wall in compas to compyle / About Cairmardin […]

3. To achieve (a break) by making a sequence of shots.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   Steve Davis compiled a 147.

4. To use a compiler to process source code and produce executable code.

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   After I compile this program I’ll run it and see if it works.

5. To be successfully processed by a compiler into executable code.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   There must be an error in my source code because it won’t compile.

6. To contain or comprise.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Transitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   After ſo long a race as I haue run / Through Faery land, vvhich thoſe ſix books cõpile [compile] / giue leaue to reſt me being halfe fordonne, / and gather to my ſelfe nevv breath avvhile.

7. To write; to compose.

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Examples

   They are at their leisure much given to poetry; in which they compile the praises of virtuous men and actions , satires against vice

Noun

1. An act of compiling code.

   Examples

   […] programming team managers assumed the "improved programs" produced through structured programming would not require as many compiles during development.

   Any file with an error or warning on it will be added to this smart group until the next compile.

Verb

1. get or gather together

   Synonyms

   roll upcollectaccumulatepile upamasshoard

   Broader terms

   storehive awaylay input insalt awaystack awaystash away

   Examples

   I am accumulating evidence for the man's unfaithfulness to his wife

   She is amassing a lot of data for her thesis

   More examples (1)

   She rolled up a small fortune

2. put together out of existing material

   Synonyms

   compose

   Broader terms

   make

   Examples

   compile a list

3. use a computer program to translate source code written in a particular programming language into computer-readable machine code that can be executed

   Broader terms

   make