hash

n 1: chopped meat mixed with potatoes and browned

2: purified resinous extract of hemp plant; used as a

hallucinogen [syn: {hashish}]

v : chop up, as of potatoes

hash

1. "#", {ASCII} code 35.

Common names: number sign; pound; pound sign; hash; sharp;

{crunch}; hex; {INTERCAL}: mesh. Rare: grid; crosshatch;

octothorpe; flash; {ITU-T}: square, pig-pen; tictactoe;

scratchmark; thud; thump; {splat}.

The pronunciation of "#" as "pound" is common in the US but a

bad idea; {Commonwealth Hackish} has its own, rather more

apposite use of "pound sign" (confusingly, on British

keyboards the pound graphic happens to replace "#"; thus

Britishers sometimes call "#" on a US-ASCII keyboard "pound",

compounding the American error). The US usage derives from an

old-fashioned commercial practice of using a "#" suffix to tag

pound weights on bills of lading. The character is usually

pronounced "hash" outside the US

2. {hash coding}.

3. The preferred term for a {Perl} {associative array}.

(1995-03-06)