SOS - Definition

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WordNet Dictionary

	Definition:	[n] an internationally recognized distress signal in radio code

	See Also:	distress call, distress signal

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

	Definition:	\SOS\ The letters signified by the signal ( . . . --- . . . ) prescribed by the International Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912 for use by ships in distress.

Computing Dictionary

	Definition:	1. scheme object system. 2. An infamously losing text editor. Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the pdp-6, a hacker crufted together a quick-and-dirty "stopgap editor" to be used until a better one was written. Unfortunately, the old one was never really discarded when new ones (in particular, teco) came along. SOS is a descendant ("Son of Stopgap") of that editor, and many pdp-10 users gained the dubious pleasure of its acquaintance. Since then other programs similar in style to SOS have been written, notably the early font editor BILOS /bye'lohs/, the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the alternate expansion "Bastard Issue, Loins of Stopgap" has been proposed). 3. The pdp-10 instruction to decrease a value. Oppose aos. [jargon file]