mainframe

noun main·frame \ ˈmān-ˌfrām \

|Updated on: 29 Jul 2018

Definition of mainframe

1 : a large, powerful computer that can handle many tasks concurrently and is usually used commercially

… the million-dollar mainframe computers that took up entire floors of corporate premises …
—John Derbyshire

2 dated : a computer with its cabinet and internal circuits especially when considered separately from any peripherals connected to the computer

See mainframe defined for English-language learners

See mainframe defined for kids

Recent Examples of mainframe from the Web

Once, my team inadvertently erased a major automaker’s American customer database, due to a miscommunication over a change to systems that synchronized consumer website information with a mainframe that managed warranty records.

— ian bogost, The Atlantic, "Atlanta's Boring Ransomware Attack," 28 Mar. 2018
Revenue from its systems division, which includes mainframes, rose 32 percent to $3.3 billion.

— steve lohr, New York Times, "IBM Ends 22-Quarter Streak of Falling Revenue," 18 Jan. 2018
CA Technologies, formerly known as Computer Associates, was founded in 1976 as a maker of business programs for mainframe computers.

— New York Times, "Broadcom Reaches Nearly $19 Billion Deal to Buy CA Technologies," 11 July 2018
Old mainframes still have to be updated to work with new systems.

— ian bogost, The Atlantic, "The Dot-Coms Were Better Than Facebook," 13 Apr. 2018
Microsoft might never have come to rule PC software if IBM, accused of monopolising mainframes, had not decided in 1969 to market computers and their programs separately, a move that created the software industry.

— The Economist, "The art of the possibleThere is no single solution to making the internet more decentralised," 28 June 2018
Their first game was Computer Space, which was based on Spacewar!, a game Bushnell had seen running on a PDP1 mainframe computer at the University of Utah.

— nellie bowles, BostonGlobe.com, "Ted Dabney, an Atari founder, Pong creator, dies at 81," 1 June 2018
Their first game was Computer Space, which was based on Spacewar!, a game that Mr. Bushnell had seen running on a PDP1 mainframe computer at the University of Utah.

— nellie bowles, New York Times, "Ted Dabney, a Founder of Atari and a Creator of Pong, Dies at 81," 31 May 2018
The technologically enlightened Boros would send data about each game to a mainframe in Philadelphia, then retrieve updated analysis the following day.

— bruce schoenfeld, New York Times, "The Mets Try the Personal Touch," 25 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mainframe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.