[syn: menu, fare]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
menu \men"u\ (m[e^]n"y[=oo]), n. [F., slender, thin, minute. See
4th Minute.]
1. The details of a banquet; a list of the dishes served at a
meal, whether or not one has a choice.
[PJC]
2. Any list of objects, activities, etc. from which to
choose; a selection of alternatives.
[PJC]
3. Hence:A list of dishes form which to choose at a
restaurant; a bill of fare.
[1913 Webster]
4. Hence: (Computers) A list displayed on the computer
screen, by which a program provides the user with
different options for processing by the program. It
usually includes a mechanism, such as pointing by a mouse
or selection by arrow keys, to select the desired option
from those on the list. Depending on how the menu is
displayed, it may be a pop-up menu or pull-down menu.
[PJC]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
menu
n 1: a list of dishes available at a restaurant; "the menu was
in French" [syn: menu, bill of fare, card, carte du
jour, carte]
2: the dishes making up a meal
3: (computer science) a list of options available to a computer
user [syn: menu, computer menu]
4: an agenda of things to do; "they worked rapidly down the menu
of reports" [syn: menu, fare]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
29 Moby Thesaurus words for "menu":
account, agenda, batting order, bill, bill of fare, bill of lading,
blueprint, books, budget, calendar, card, carte, carte du jour,
docket, invoice, ledger, lineup, list of agenda, manifest,
playbill, program, program of operation, programma, prospectus,
protocol, roster, schedule, slate, statement
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
menu
A list from which the user may select an
operation to be performed. This is often done with a mouse
or other pointing device under a graphical user interface
but may also be controlled from the keyboard.
Menus are very convenient for beginners because they show what
commands are available and make experimentating with a new
program easy, often reducing the need for user documentation.
Experienced users however, often prefer keyboard commands,
especially for frequently user operations, because they are
faster to use. In situations such as text entry where the
keyboard must be used anyway, having to move your hand to the
mouse to invoke a menu operation is slow.
There are many different ways of presenting menus but the most
common are the menu bar (with pull-down menus) and the
context-sensitive menu.
The term "menu" tends to be reserved for a list of actions or
global options, whereas a "list box" or other graphical
widget might present any kind of choice.
See also menuitis.
(1994-12-02)