label

name

1. a language spoken in Papua New Guinea

noun

Etymology: From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.

1. A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.

   “We laughed at her because the label was still on her new sweater.”

   “The label says this silk scarf should not be washed in the washing machine.”

2. A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.

   “Ever since he started going to the rock club, he's been given the label "waster".”

3. A company that sells records.

   “The label signed the band after hearing a demo tape.”

4. A user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration.

   “Storage devices can be given by label or ID.”

5. A named place in source code that can be jumped to using a GOTO or equivalent construct.
6. A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.
7. A tassel.

   “the arms or escutcheon of France , hanging by a label on an oak”

8. A small strip, especially of paper or parchment (or of some material attached to parchment to carry the seal), but also of iron, brass, land, etc.

   “Ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, / Shall be the label to another deed.”

   “They […] 'sealed the grave, and rolled a great stone at the mouth of it' and as an ancient tradition says, bound it about with labels of iron.”

9. A piece of writing added to something, such as a codicil appended to a will.
10. A brass rule with sights, formerly used with a circumferentor to take altitudes.
11. The projecting moulding by the sides, and over the tops, of openings in mediaeval architecture.

    “Sculptured ends of labels are called label-stops.”

12. In mediaeval and later art, a representation of a band or scroll containing an inscription.

    “2654. Two-handled globular vase; early Deruta lustred ware; centre surrounded by a band of scroll work; on each side the neck is an oval compartment with clasped hands, and a label scroll inscribed "Co pura fe.;" decoration, blue outline on white ground filled in with yellow lustre.”

    “Boime correctly suggests that medieval artists who employed labels or scrolls to gloss illustrations typically configured text and image in visually overlapping, but cognitively separate, spaces.”

13. A non-interactive control or widget displaying text, often used to describe the purpose of another control.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.

1. To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).

   “The shop assistant labeled all the products in the shop.”

2. To give (a label) to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.

   “He's been unfairly labeled as a cheat, although he's only ever cheated once.”

   “A friend of mine who runs an intellectual magazine was grousing about his movie critic, complaining that though the fellow had liked The Godfather (page 58), he had neglected to label it clearly as a masterpiece.”

3. To replace specific atoms by their isotope in order to track the presence or movement of this isotope through a reaction, metabolic pathway or cell.
4. To add a detectable substance, either transiently or permanently, to a biological substance in order to track the presence of the label-substance combination either in situ or in vitro

   “They may be used to label and image a protein within tissue, to isolate cells on the basis of marker expression, or to physically capture a protein from a complex biological mixture....”