log Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a segment of the trunk of a tree when stripped of branches
  2. noun the exponent required to produce a given number
    logarithm.
  3. noun a written record of messages sent or received
    • they kept a log of all transmission by the radio station
    • an email log
  4. noun a written record of events on a voyage (of a ship or plane)
  5. noun measuring instrument that consists of a float that trails from a ship by a knotted line in order to measure the ship's speed through the water
  6. verb enter into a log, as on ships and planes
  7. verb cut lumber, as in woods and forests
    lumber.

WordNet

Log noun
Etymology
Heb. l&omac;g.
Definitions
  1. A Hebrew measure of liquids, containing 2.37 gills. W. H. Ward.
Log noun
Etymology
Icel. lag a felled tree, log; akin to E. lie. See Lie to lie prostrate.
Definitions
  1. A bulky piece of wood which has not been shaped by hewing or sawing.
  2. Prob. the same word as in sense 1; cf. LG. log, lock, Dan. log, Sw. logg. (Naut.) An apparatus for measuring the rate of a ship's motion through the water. ✍ The common log consists of the log-chip, or logship, often exclusively called the log, and the log line, the former being commonly a thin wooden quadrant of five or six inches radius, loaded with lead on the arc to make it float with the point up. It is attached to the log line by cords from each corner. This line is divided into equal spaces, called knots, each bearing the same proportion to a mile that half a minute does to an hour. The line is wound on a reel which is so held as to let it run off freely. When the log is thrown, the log-chip is kept by the water from being drawn forward, and the speed of the ship is shown by the number of knots run out in half a minute. There are improved logs, consisting of a piece of mechanism which, being towed astern, shows the distance actually gone through by the ship, by means of the revolutions of a fly, which are registered on a dial plate.
  3. Hence: The record of the rate of ship's speed or of her daily progress; also, the full nautical record of a ship's cruise or voyage; a log slate; a log book.
  4. A record and tabulated statement of the work done by an engine, as of a steamship, of the coal consumed, and of other items relating to the performance of machinery during a given time.
  5. (Mining) A weight or block near the free end of a hoisting rope to prevent it from being drawn through the sheave.
Log intransitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Logged ; present participle & verbal noun Logging
Definitions
  1. (Naut.), To enter in a ship's log book; as, to log the miles run. J. F. Cooper.
Log intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To engage in the business of cutting or transporting logs for timber; to get out logs. U.S.
  2. To move to and fro; to rock. Obs.

Webster 1913