desktop

[ desk-top ]

adjective

1. small or compact enough to fit or be used on a desk:

   a desktop calendar.

noun

1. the surface of a desk.
2. Computers.
   1. Also called desktop computer. a computer that is not portable, often consisting of a CPU, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Compare laptop.
   2. the primary display screen of a graphical user interface, on which various icons represent files, groups of files, programs, or the like, which can be moved, accessed, added to, put away, or thrown away in ways analogous to the handling of file folders, documents, notes, etc., on a real desk.

desktop

/ ˈdɛskˌtɒp /

noun

1. the main screen display on a personal computer, from which windows may be opened and programs run
2. modifier denoting a computer system, esp for word processing, that is small enough to use at a desk

Word History and Origins

Origin of desktop¹

First recorded in 1925–30; desk + top ¹

Example Sentences

Google is rolling out the messaging functionality within the Google My Business desktop interface.

From Search Engine Land

Take for instance a cool company I covered a little while back called Hebbia, which is reinventing search on the desktop.

From TechCrunch

People who have installed the DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials browser extension on desktop browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge, now have the Global Privacy Control setting turned on by default.

From Digiday

Storing all your documents and photos on your computer desktop is a great way to save paper and space, but sometimes you want something more tangible and easier to access.

From Popular-Science

In recent years, the company launched Acrobat on the web, but it was never quite as fully featured as the desktop version, and one capability a lot of users were looking for, editing text and images in PDFs, remained a desktop-only feature.

From TechCrunch

You can download the Kindle App for free on your desktop or laptop computer, smart phone or tablet.

From The Daily Beast

They feature custom wallpaper, system sounds, and desktop icons for My Computer, Recycle Bin, and Network Neighborhood.

From The Daily Beast

That boxy, black desktop, which cost CERN around $10,000 at the time, has spawned a sprawling and largely unregulated universe.

From The Daily Beast

I like to see my desktop covered with face-up yellow pages drying like paintings in the sun.

From The Daily Beast

Up comes a little box on the desktop from gogoinflight inviting me to follow them out into the cyber universe.

From The Daily Beast

Bob deliberately crossed the room and rested his two fists, knuckle down, on the polished desktop.

From Project Gutenberg

Suddenly he gasped, and jabbed one of the many buttons that patterned his desktop.

From Project Gutenberg

Plug them in and they show up on your desktop like a little hard drive.

From Project Gutenberg

“I can build you a desktop out of garbage for twenty bucks,” Kurt said.

From Project Gutenberg

The three microcards and the order itself appeared simultaneously on the desktop viewer of the Star Watch personnel officer.

From Project Gutenberg