daemon

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a computer program or process that runs in the background and performs a service without direct user control

   The mail daemon checks the outgoing queue every few minutes.

2. 2
   noun

   in classical mythology, a supernatural being or spirit between a god and a human

   The philosopher described a daemon that warned him against unwise actions.

3. 3
   noun

   a guiding or inspiring inner spirit, especially one associated with creative compulsion

   She wrote as though driven by an exacting creative daemon.

From Latin daemon, from Ancient Greek daimōn, "divine power, spirit, or lesser deity." The computing sense was adopted for an unseen background process by analogy with Maxwell's demon, an imaginary agent that continually sorts molecules; the claim that daemon abbreviates "disk and execution monitor" is a later backronym.

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