Topic: TECHNOLOGY
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Sense: 1-5
| Date: | 1300-1400 |
| Language: | Old French |
| Origin: | comptour, from Medieval Latin computatorium 'counting place', from Latin computare; COMPUTE |
| Date: | 1300-1400 |
| Language: | Old French |
| Origin: | conteor, from conter; COUNT1 |
| Date: | 1600-1700 |
| Language: | French |
| Origin: | contre, from contre 'against' |
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coun‧ter1 S3
[countable]
[countable]1DHF the place where you pay or are served in a shop, bank, restaurant etc : He wondered if the girl behind the counter recognised him.
He wondered if the girl behind the counter recognised him.2DHF American English a long flat surface on top of a piece of furniture, especially in a kitchen [= worktop British English]
3 drugs, medicines etc that are bought over the counter are ones that you can buy in a shop without a prescription from a doctor
over the counter
MD4 if you buy something under the counter, you buy it secretly and usually illegally : It's risky, but you can get alcohol under the counter.
under the counter
It's risky, but you can get alcohol under the counter.5DGB a small object that you use in some games that are played on a board
6T a piece of electrical equipment that counts something : Set the video counter to zero before you press play. ➔ Geiger counter
Set the video counter to zero before you press play.7TD a computer program that counts the number of people that have visited a website
8 an action that tries to prevent something bad from happening, or an argument that is used to prove that something is wrong
