nasal demon

noun

Unexpected behavior of a compiled program as a result of source code that employs an undefined construct.

Meanings

nounnasal demon (plural nasal demons)

plural nasal demons

  1. humorouspluralslangcomputingUnexpected behavior of a compiled program as a result of source code that employs an undefined construct.

Origin

From a 1992 post on the Usenet newsgroup comp.std.c; see http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/N/nasal-demons.html.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

nasal demon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nasal%20demon

MLA

“nasal demon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nasal%20demon. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nasal demon,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nasal%20demon.

Source: nasal demon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.