index

plural indexes · plural indices · obsolete plural index's

1. An alphabetical listing of items and their location.

   This encyclopedia includes a topical index.

   1 more example

   The index of a book lists words or expressions and the pages of the book upon which they are to be found.

2. The index finger; the forefinger.

   Synonyms: arrow-finger, demonstrator, first finger, forefinger, index finger, lickpot, pointer, pointer finger

3. A movable finger on a gauge, scale, etc.

   Synonyms: pointer

4. mediaA symbol resembling a pointing hand, used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph.

   Synonyms: manicule, see others in Wikipedia at manicule § Terminology

5. That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.

   Among the gravity indexes is the severance of diplomatic relations.

   1 more example

   Tastes are the Indexes of the different Qualities of Plants.

   1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: indicator

6. A sign; an indication; a token.

   His son's empty guffaws […] struck him with pain as the indices of a weak mind.

   1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Misadventures of John Nicholson

   1 more example

   Their use of these words as epithets is an index of an appallingly low level of feminist awareness.

   1984 December 22, Gayle Rubin, “Censored: Anti-Porn Laws And Women's Liberation”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 8

7. human sciencesA type of noun where the meaning of the form changes with respect to the context; e.g., 'Today's newspaper' is an indexical form since its referent will differ depending on the context. See also icon and symbol.
8. economicsA single number calculated from an array of prices or of quantities.
9. sciencesA number representing a property or ratio; a coefficient.

   In other words, we predict that the index for a new pair of materials can be obtained from the indexes of the individual materials, both against air or against vacuum.

   1963, Richard Feynman, “Chapter 26, Optics: The Principle of Least Time”, in The Feynman Lectures on Physics, volume I

10. mathematicsA raised suffix indicating a power.
11. especiallycomputingAn integer or other key indicating the location of data, e.g. within an array, vector, database table, associative array, or hash table.
12. computerA data structure that improves the performance of operations on a table.
13. index of a subgroupalgebraThe number of cosets that exist.

    The index of 2ℤ in ℤ is 2.

14. obsoleteA prologue indicating what follows.

    Ay me, what act, that roars so loud and thunders in the index?

    c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]

present singular third person indexes · participle present indexing · participle past indexed · past indexed

1. transitiveTo arrange an index for something, especially a long text.

   MySQL does not index short words and common words.

2. To inventory; to take stock.
3. economicsTo normalise in order to account for inflation; to correct for inflation by linking to a price index in order to maintain real levels.
4. To measure by an associated value.

   For thousands of years, human progress was indexed to the ease and speed of our mobility: our capacity to walk on two legs, and then to ride on animals, sail on boats, chug across the land and fly through the air, all to procure for ourselves the food and materials we wanted.

   2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian

5. transitivehuman sciencesTo be indexical for (some situation or state of affairs); to indicate.

   For example, the feature I indexes the current speaker in the speech event and you, the current addressee.

   2008, Haruko Minegishi Cook, Socializing Identities Through Speech Style, page 22

6. computingTo access a value in a data container by an index.
7. transitiveengineeringTo use a mechanism to move an object to a precise location.

1. An unincorporated community in Miller County, Arkansas.
2. An unincorporated community in Morgan County, Kentucky.
3. A ghost town in Cass County, Missouri.
4. A small hamlet in Otsego County, New York.
5. An unincorporated community in King George County, Virginia.
6. A town in Snohomish County, Washington.
7. An unincorporated community in Gilmer County, West Virginia.