install definition

English

Alternative forms

• enstall (rare, obsolete)
• instal (rare, UK, dated spelling)

Etymology

From Middle English installen, from Old French installer, from Medieval Latin installō (“to install, put in place, establish”), from in- + stallum (“stall”), from Frankish *stall (“stall, position, place”), from Proto-Germanic *stallaz (“place, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel-, *stAlǝn-, *stAlǝm- (“stem, trunk”). Cognate with Old High German stal (“location, stall”), Old English steall (“position, stall”), Old English onstellan (“to institute, create, originate, establish, give the example of”), Middle High German anstalt (“institute”), German anstellen (“to conduct, employ”), German einstellen (“to set, adjust, position”), Dutch aanstellen (“to appoint, commission, institute”), Dutch instellen (“to set up, establish”). More at in, stall.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈstɔːl/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Hyphenation: in‧stall

Verb

install (third-person singular simple present installs, present participle installing, simple past and past participle installed)

1. (transitive) To connect, set up or prepare something for use.

   I haven't installed the new operating system yet because of all the bugs.

   • 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:

     Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

   • 2021 July 14, Paul Stephen, “A portal into the future”, in RAIL, number 935, page 52. photo caption:

     Each TBM installs two-metre-wide rings made up of seven precast concrete segments produced on-site. Each ring takes approximately 45 minutes to one hour to install.

2. (transitive) To admit formally into an office, rank or position.

   He was installed as Chancellor of the University.

3. (transitive) To establish or settle in.

   I installed myself in my usual chair by the fire.

Antonyms

• uninstall

Related terms

• installation
• installer
• instalment / installment

Translations

Noun

install (plural installs)

1. (computing) Installer. A software utility that installs an application.

   After inserting the disk, you need to run the install.

2. (informal) An installation. (Usage originated as a truncated form of the word installation.)

Anagrams

• Antills