WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

ethernet
    n 1: a type of network technology for local area networks;
         coaxial cable carries radio frequency signals between
         computers at a rate of 10 megabits per second

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

Ethernet

    A local area network first described by
   Metcalfe & Boggs of Xerox PARC in 1976.  Specified by DEC,
   Intel and XEROX (DIX) as IEEE 802.3 and now recognised
   as the industry standard.

   Data is broken into packets and each one is transmitted
   using the CSMA/CD algorithm until it arrives at the
   destination without colliding with any other packet.  The
   first contention slot after a transmission is reserved for
   an acknowledge packet.  A node is either transmitting or
   receiving at any instant.  The bandwidth is about 10 Mbit/s.
   Disk-Ethernet-Disk transfer rate with TCP/IP is typically 30
   kilobyte per second.

   Version 2 specifies that collision detect of the transceiver
   must be activated during the inter-packet gap and that when
   transmission finishes, the differential transmit lines are
   driven to 0V (half step).  It also specifies some network
   management functions such as reporting collisions, retries
   and deferrals.

   Ethernet cables are classified as "XbaseY", e.g. 10base5,
   where X is the data rate in Mbps, "base" means "baseband"
   (as opposed to radio frequency) and Y is the category of
   cabling.  The original cable was 10base5 ("full spec"),
   others are 10base2 ("thinnet") and 10baseT ("twisted
   pair") which is now (1998) very common.  100baseT ("Fast
   Ethernet") is also increasingly common.

   Usenet newsgroup: news:comp.dcom.lans.ethernet.

   (http://wwwhost.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/ethernet-home.html).

   (1997-04-16)