Meaning of dongle | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Any small device that plugs into an electronic device, typically a computer, and alters its functionality. Common examples include wireless modems, digital media players, software copy protect devices, and adapters.
2. A hardware device used by a specific application for purposes of copy protection.

Equivalents

Examples

“FreedomPop will offer⟳ three different flavors of broadband: a USB dongle that allows you to connect⟳ your computer to the internet, a WiFi hotspot device, and an iPhone case that allows you to override the phone's existing network and use⟳ it as a FreedomPop hotspot.”

“Take⟳ the dongle, for example. It is the summit of copy⟳ protection, an explicit melding of software and hardware. Without the right hardware key—the dongle—plugged into the machine's parallel port, the software won't run⟳.”

CEFR level