ident

English

Etymology 1

From a later form of ithand, itself an alteration (due to assimilation to suffix -and) of Middle English ithen, from Old Norse iðinn (“assiduous, diligent”), from iðja, iðna (“to do, perform”), from ið (“a restless motion”), equivalent to ithe +‎ -and and/or ithe +‎ -en. Cognate with Icelandic iðinn (“diligent”), Norwegian idig (“busy”), Danish id (“pursuit, calling, business”). More at ithand.

Alternative forms

• eident (Scotland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪdənt/

Adjective

ident (comparative more ident, superlative most ident)

1. (Now chiefly dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Diligent; persistent.

Derived terms

• idently

Etymology 2

Shortened form of identification.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪdɛnt/

Noun

ident (plural idents)

1. Identification.
   • 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 37:

     Well, that's the priority. Get the ident.

2. (radio, television) A brief audio or audiovisual sequence serving to identify the broadcaster.
   • 2002, Jane Austin, Graphic Originals:

     In 1999 Chaudoir and fellow BBC designer Tim Platt were given the task of rebranding the existing BBC2 idents.

3. (Internet) A protocol serving to identify the user of a particular TCP connection, used especially on IRC networks.
   • 2004, Eoghan Casey, Digital Evidence and Computer Crime:

     […] the intruder installed an IRC bot and French ident daemon to reply to IRC servers with a name other than root.

4. Identifier. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Anagrams

• denti-, detin, indet., teind, tiend, tined