input

Etymology

From Middle English inputten, equivalent to in- + put.

noun

1. The act or process of putting in; infusion.
2. That which is put in, as in an amount.
3. Contribution of work or information, as an opinion or advice.
   You can provide input via this form.
4. Data fed into a process with the intention of it shaping or affecting the output of that process.
   sound input
5. (electronics) An input jack.
   model with A/V input

verb

1. (transitive) To put in; put on.
   Following the removal of the Golborne Link from the current Bill and, given the direct importance of maintaining the benefits that the Golborne Link would have delivered for Scotland, the Transport Minister has sought and received confirmation from the UK Minister of State for Transport that Scottish Government Officials will input to the consideration being given to the alternative. January 25 2023, “Network News: Sturgeon and Burnham in secret talks to boost Scottish high-speed link”, in RAIL, number 975, page 11
2. (transitive) To enter data.
   The user inputs his date of birth and the computer displays his age.
   An artificial-intelligence application called Sudowrite wrote the paragraph above. I inputted the text of the first section of “The Metamorphosis” and then pressed a button called Wormhole. The computer composed the continuation. April 30, 2021, Stephen Marche, “The Computers Are Getting Better at Writing”, in The New Yorker
   "The timetable is then produced using a desktop publishing package with data inputted manually, and the files then sent to the editor, Chris Woodcock, for proof-reading and conversion to PDF format. September 22 2021, John Potter tells Paul Stephen, “Your guide to Europe”, in RAIL, number 940, page 65
3. (transitive) To accept data that is entered.
   The program inputs a value for the integer variable num and compares it with the constant integer limit. 2009, J Stanley Warford, Computer Systems