nuke

nugry | = N = | number-crunching

nuke /n[y]ook/ vt.

[common] 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given directory or storage volume. "On Unix, `rm -r /usr` will nuke everything in the usr filesystem." Never used for accidental deletion; contrast blow away. 2. Syn. for dike, applied to smaller things such as files, features, or code sections. Often used to express a final verdict. "What do you want me to do with that 80-meg wallpaper file?" "Nuke it." 3. Used of processes as well as files; nuke is a frequent verbal alias for `kill -9` on Unix. 4. On IBM PCs, a bug that results in fandango on core can trash the operating system, including the FAT (the in-core copy of the disk block chaining information). This can utterly scramble attached disks, which are then said to have been `nuked'. This term is also used of analogous lossages on Macintoshes and other micros without memory protection.

nugry | = N = | number-crunching