target definition

English target definition

Etymology

From Middle French targette, targuete, diminutive of targe (“light shield”), from Old French, from Frankish *targa (“buckler”), akin to Old Norse targa (“small round shield”) (whence also Old English targe, targa (“shield”)) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“frame”)), Spanish tarjeta (“card”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑɹɡɪt/, [ˈtʰɑɹɡɪt̚]

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑːɡɪt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

target (plural targets)

1. A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile.

   Take careful aim at the target.

2. A goal or objective.
   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.

   They have a target to finish the project by November.

3. An object of criticism or ridicule.
4. A person, place, or thing that is frequently attacked, criticized, or ridiculed.
5. A kind of small shield or buckler, used as a defensive weapon in war.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iv], line 200:

     These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven points in my target, thus.

6. (obsolete) A shield resembling the Roman scutum, larger than the modern buckler.
   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 22,

     The target or buckler was carried by the heavy armed foot, it answered to the scutum of the Romans; its form was sometimes that of a rectangular parallelogram, but more commonly had its bottom rounded off; it was generally convex, being curved in its breadth.

7. (heraldry) A bearing representing a buckler.
8. (sports) The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark.

   He made a good target.

9. (surveying) The sliding crosspiece, or vane, on a leveling staff.
10. (rail transport) A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.
11. (cricket) the number of runs that the side batting last needs to score in the final innings in order to win
12. (linguistics) The tenor of a metaphor.
13. (translation studies) The translated version of a document, or the language into which translation occurs.

    Do you charge by source or target?

14. A person (or group of people) that a person or organization is trying to employ or to have as a customer, audience etc.
    • 2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:

      Gary Cahill, a target for Arsenal and Tottenham before the transfer window closed, put England ahead early on and Rooney was on target twice before the interval as the early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.

15. (UK, dated) A thin cut; a slice; specifically, of lamb, a piece consisting of the neck and breast joints.
16. (Scotland, obsolete) A tassel or pendant.

    Synonym: targe

17. (Scotland, obsolete) A shred; a tatter.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:goal
• (translated version): target language

Coordinate terms

• (translated version): source

Meronyms

• (sport): bull/bullseye, inner, magpie, outer

Derived terms

• targeteer
• targeter
• targeting

Descendants

• → Japanese: ターゲット (tāgetto)

Translations

Verb

target (third-person singular simple present targets, present participle targeting or targetting, simple past and past participle targeted or targetted)

1. (transitive) To aim something, especially a weapon, at (a target).
2. (transitive, figuratively) To aim for as an audience or demographic.

   The advertising campaign targeted older women.

3. (transitive, computing) To produce code suitable for.

   This cross-platform compiler can target any of several processors.

Translations

See also

• Target on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Gretta, gatter

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Cebuano target definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English target.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: tar‧get
• IPA^(key): /ˈtaɾɡet/, [ˈt̪aɾ̪ɡɪt̪]

Noun

target

1. target
2. bullseye
3. children's game where the objective is to hook rubber bands laid on the ground using a toy arrow
4. toy arrow made of coconut midribs used in target
5. (basketball) shot where the ball follows a straight line into the basket instead of an arc

Verb

target

1. to target
2. to hit with a projectile
3. (basketball) to make a shot following a straight line instead of an arc
4. (slang) to have someone to have sex

Conjugation

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:target.

References

• John U. Wolff (1972) A dictionary of Cebuano Visayan‎^[1] (in Cebuano and English), Cornell University, page 993

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Dutch target definition

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

target n (plural targets, diminutive targetje n)

1. target

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Indonesian target definition

Etymology

From English target.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtarɡɛt̚/
• Hyphenation: tar‧gèt

Noun

targèt (first-person possessive targetku, second-person possessive targetmu, third-person possessive targetnya)

1. target: a goal or objective.

   Synonym: sasaran

Derived terms

Further reading

• “target” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

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Spanish target definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English target.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaɾɡet/, [ˈt̪aɾ.ɣ̞et̪]

Noun

target m (plural targets)

1. target (goal, objective)

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.