The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
Address Resolution Protocol
ARP
(ARP) A method for finding a host's
Ethernet address from its Internet address. The sender
broadcasts an ARP packet containing the Internet address
of another host and waits for it (or some other host) to send
back its Ethernet address. Each host maintains a cache of
address translations to reduce delay and loading. ARP allows
the Internet address to be independent of the Ethernet address
but it only works if all hosts support it.
ARP is defined in RFC 826.
The alternative for hosts that do not do ARP is constant
mapping.
See also proxy ARP, reverse ARP.
(1995-03-20)