The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Code \Code\ (k[=o]d), n. [F., fr. L. codex, caudex, the stock or
   stem of a tree, a board or tablet of wood smeared over with
   wax, on which the ancients originally wrote; hence, a book, a
   writing.]
   1. A body of law, sanctioned by legislation, in which the
      rules of law to be specifically applied by the courts are
      set forth in systematic form; a compilation of laws by
      public authority; a digest.
      [1913 Webster]

   Note: The collection of laws made by the order of Justinian
         is sometimes called, by way of eminence, "The Code" .
         --Wharton.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. Any system of rules or regulations relating to one
      subject; as, the medical code, a system of rules for the
      regulation of the professional conduct of physicians.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. Any set of symbols or combinations of symbols used for
      communication in any medium, such as by telegraph or
      semaphore. See Morse code, and error-correcting code.
      [PJC]

   Note: A system of rules for making communications at sea by
         means of signals has been referred to as the

   naval code.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. Any set of standards established by the governing
      authority of a geopolitical entity restricting the ways
      that certain activities may be performed, especially the
      manner in which buildings or specific systems within
      buildings may be constructed; as, a building code; a
      plumbing code; a health code.
      [PJC]

   5. Any system used for secrecy in communication, in which the
      content of a communication is converted, prior to
      transmission, into symbols whose meaning is known only to
      authorized recipients of the message; such codes are used
      to prevent unauthorized persons from learning the content
      of the communication. The process of converting a
      communication into secret symbols by means of a code is
      called encoding or encryption. However, unauthorized
      persons may learn the code by various means, as in
      code-breaking.
      [PJC]

   6. An error-correcting code. See below.
      [PJC]

   7. (Computers) The set of instructions for a computer program
      written by a programmer, usually in a programming language
      such as Fortran, C, Cobol, Java, C++, etc.; also, the
      executable binary object code. All such programs except
      for the binary object code must be converted by a
      compiler program into object code, which is the
      arrangement of data bits which can be directly interpreted
      by a computer.
      [PJC]

   Code civil or Code Napoleon, a code enacted in France in
      1803 and 1804, embodying the law of rights of persons and
      of property generally. --Abbot.

   error-correcting code (Computers) A set of symbols used to
      represent blocks of binary data, in which the original
      block of data is represented by a larger block of data
      which includes additional bits arranged in such a way that
      the original data may be read even if one or more of the
      bits of the encoded data is changed, as in a noisy
      communicaiton channel. Various codes are available which
      can correct different numbers or patterns of errors in the
      transmitted data. Such codes are used to achieve higher
      accuracy in data transmission, and in data storage devices
      such as disk drives and tape drives.

   object code (Computers) the arrangement of bits stored in
      computer memory or a data storage device which, when fed
      to the instruction processor of a computer's central
      processing unit, can be interpreted directly as
      instructions for execution.

   genetic code (Biochemistry, genetics) The set of
      correspondences between sequences of three bases (codons)
      in a RNA chain to the amino acid which those three bases
      represent in the process of protein synthesis. Thus, the
      sequence UUU codes for phenylalanine, and AUG codes for
      methionine. There are twenty-one naturally-occurring amino
      acids, and sixty-four possible arrangements of three bases
      in RNA; thus some of the amino acids are represented by
      more than one codon. Several codons do not represent amino
      acids, but cause termination of the synthesis of a growing
      amnio acid chain.
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

   Note: The genetic code is represented by the following table:
         The Genetic Code
         =====================================================
         UUU Phenylalanine (Phe) AUU Isoleucine (Ile)
         UCU Serine (Ser) ACU Threonine (Thr)
         UAU Tyrosine (Tyr) AAU Asparagine (Asn)
         UGU Cysteine (Cys) AGU Serine (Ser)
         UUC Phe AUC Ile
         UCC Ser ACC Thr
         UAC Tyr AAC Asn
         UGC Cys AGC Ser
         UUA Leucine (Leu) AUA Ile
         UCA Ser ACA Thr
         UAA STOP AAA Lysine (Lys)
         UGA STOP AGA Arginine (Arg)
         UUG Leu AUG Methionine (Met) or START
         UCG Ser ACG Thr
         UAG STOP AAG Lys
         UGG Tryptophan (Trp) AGG Arg
         CUU Leucine (Leu) GUU Valine Val
         CCU Proline (Pro) GCU Alanine (Ala)
         CAU Histidine (His) GAU Aspartic acid (Asp)
         CGU Arginine (Arg) GGU Glycine (Gly)
         CUC Leu GUC (Val)
         CCU Pro GCC Ala
         CAC His GAC Asp
         CGC Arg GGC Gly
         CUA Leu GUA Val
         CCA Pro GCA Ala
         CAA Glutamine (Gln) GAA Glutamic acid (Glu)
         CGA Arg GGA Gly
         CUG Leu GUG Val
         CCG Pro GCG Ala
         CAG Gln GAG Glu
         CGG Arg GGG Gly
         [PJC]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

object code
    n 1: the machine-language output of a compiler that is ready for
         execution on a particular computer

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

object code

   The machine code generated by a source code language
   processor such as an assembler or compiler.  A file of
   object code may be immediately executable or it may require
   linking with other object code files, e.g. libraries, to
   produce a complete executable program.

   (1995-01-31)