target
A2Meanings
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1
noun
A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.
Take careful aim at the target.
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2
noun
A goal or objective.
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
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3
noun
A kind of shield:
These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target, thus.
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4
noun
The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark.
He made a good target.
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5
noun
The codomain of a function; the object at which a morphism points.
Coordinate term: source
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6
noun
The translated version of a document, or the language into which translation occurs.
Do you charge by source or target?
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7
noun
A person (or group of people) that a person or organization is trying to employ or to have as a customer, audience etc.
Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.
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8
verb
To aim for as an audience or demographic.
The advertising campaign targeted older women.
Etymology
From Middle French targette, targuete, diminutive of targe (“light shield”), from Old French, from Frankish *targa (“buckler”), akin to Old Norse targa (“small round shield”) (whence also Old English targe, targa (“shield”)) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“frame”)), Spanish tarjeta (“card”).
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