alias

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   another name used by a person, file, command, or concept

   The suspect traveled under an alias for several months.

2. 2
   noun

   a short command or label that stands for a longer computer command or path

   I added an alias so gs runs git status.

3. 3
   adv

   also known as; otherwise called

   Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain, became one of America's best-known writers.

From Latin alias (otherwise, at another time or place), related to else and alien. Computing kept the older idea of one name standing in for another.

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