barcode

[ bahr-kohd ]

nounAlso bar code .

a series of lines of varying width, printed, as on a container or product, that can be read by an optical scanner to determine charges for purchases, destinations for letters, etc.: See also Universal Product Code.

verb (used with object),bar·cod·ed, bar·cod·ing.Also bar-code .

to put a barcode on.

Origin of barcode

First recorded in 1960–65; bar¹ (in the sense of “a band or strip”) + code

Words Nearby barcode

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use barcode in a sentence

Shopic, an Israeli smart trolley company, also has a smaller piece of hardware that attaches to a cart, but the difference is it relies on a barcode scanner rather than computer vision.
New Zealand-based Imagr thinks camera-based AI is the future of shopping trolleys | Rebecca Bellan | August 27, 2021 | TechCrunch
When our customers got robots, they could take the hand scanner they already had today, scan a barcode and call a robot to them.
Fetch Robotics’ CEO on the company’s acquisition and the future of warehouse robots | Brian Heater | July 2, 2021 | TechCrunch
We assign ages to those barcode stripes using the geological timescale.
The New Historian of the Smash That Made the Himalayas | Robin George Andrews | April 14, 2021 | Quanta Magazine
Some have additional features that will allow you to scan the barcode on packaged food to determine cook time automatically, LED touch screen panels, and moisture sensors to avoid drying out your meal.
The best microwaves: This way for buttery popcorn and tempting leftovers | PopSci Commerce Team | January 22, 2021 | Popular-Science
Picture one of those barcode readers used at checkout lines in a grocery store, but bigger and with the silvery sheen and shape of a robot used to explore a foreign planet.
San Diego Scientist Gets Closer to Understanding Why the Coast Collapses | MacKenzie Elmer | December 28, 2020 | Voice of San Diego

But it might also be a symbol, a barcode, or a red box containing the words “[Daily] Beast” in white lettering.
Run with the Devil Unlike the Girl in Kentucky | Candida Moss | November 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
“I tend to be a moderate,” said Louis, 69, a barcode salesman from Long Island who declined to give his last name.
Jon Huntsman and Joe Manchin’s No Labels Bromance | David Freedlander | January 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for bar code

bar code

noun

commerce a machine-readable arrangement of numbers and parallel lines of different widths printed on a package, which can be electronically scanned at a checkout to register the price of the goods and to activate computer stock-checking and reordering: Also called: Universal Product Code, UPC

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for bar code

bar code

A series of parallel lines that can be read by an optical scanner and decoded by a computer into usable information. The ten-line Universal Product Code (UPC) on the packaging of retail items is an example of this. The key to this code is the variation in line thickness and separation.

Browse