zen

Noun

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. school of Mahayana Buddhism asserting that enlightenment can come through meditation and intuition rather than faith; China and JapanSynonyms: ZenZen Buddhism
  2. a Buddhist doctrine that enlightenment can be attained through direct intuitive insightSynonyms: ZenZen Buddhism
  3. street name for lysergic acid diethylamideSynonyms: acidback breakerbattery-aciddosedotElvisloony toonsLucy in the sky with diamondspanesupermanwindow paneZen
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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

Zen

[Kehoe, B., "Zen and the Art of the Internet", February 1992.] [Jargon File]


zen

<jargon> To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally applied to problems of life in general. "How'd you figure out the buffer allocation problem?" "Oh, I zenned it."

Contrast grok, which connotes a time-extended version of zenning a system. Compare hack mode. See also guru.

(1996-09-17)

The Jargon File

zen vt.

To figure out something by meditation or by a sudden flash of enlightenment. Originally applied to bugs, but occasionally applied to problems of life in general. “How'd you figure out the buffer allocation problem?” “Oh, I zenned it.” Contrast grok, which connotes a time-extended version of zenning a system. Compare hack mode. See also guru.

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