support

support

1. a band or entertainer not topping the bill

2. an actor or group of actors playing subordinate roles

3. the solid material on which a painting is executed, such as canvas

4. See athletic support

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

support

[sə′pȯrt]

(mathematics)

The support of a real-valued function ƒ on a topological space is the closure of the set of points where ƒ is not zero.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

support

After-sale handholding; something many software vendors promise but few deliver. To hackers, most support people are useless - because by the time a hacker calls support he or she will usually know the software and the relevant manuals better than the support people (sadly, this is *not* a joke or exaggeration). A hacker's idea of "support" is a t?te-?-t?te or exchange of electronic mail with the software's designer.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

support

(1) See tech support.

(2) A widely used term in the industry to mean "to provide the capabilities for" or "to interface to" or "to include some function."

Hardware Supports...
The phrase "device X supports Y" means that X contains built-in circuitry to perform Y or it can interface to a module that does. For example, "the CPU supports multiprocessing" means it has multiprocessing capabilities built in. "The computer supports Ethernet" means the computer includes Ethernet capability and can plug into an Ethernet network.

Software Supports...
The phrase "program X supports Y" means that X includes routines to perform the Y operation or to interface to another program that does. For example, if a development system "supports Windows," the system is used to create Windows applications. "Application X supports database Y" means that X can connect to Y and has built-in routines to interact with it.

Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Support

 

a device for mounting a motion-picture camera during filming or a still camera during shooting or for mounting a geodetic, astronomical, or other instrument during work with such an instrument.

The most widely used type of support is the collapsible tripod, which may be made of metal or wood. A camera or instrument is attached to a tripod by means of a projecting stud, which is screwed into a threaded socket in the base of the camera or instrument. As a rule, tripods are equipped with movable heads, which make it possible to mount a camera in various positions with respect to the vertical axis. In professional motion-picture filming, panoramic heads are also used.

Portable devices are also used as camera supports (seeTRAVELING SHOTS, EOUIPMENT FOR). During filming with a handheld motion-picture camera, a gunpod, which fits into the cameraman’s shoulder, is often used.

In a number of cases, a clamp may be used as a support for a still camera. A clamp is employed to attach a camera to the back of a chair, to the edge of a table, or to some other firmly standing object.

The use of camera supports permits exposures longer than 1/30 sec.

S. V. KULAGIN

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.