internet

Etymology 1

The noun is a variant of Internet. The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (uncountable) Internet access or connection; internet connectivity.
   Do you have internet at your place? My internet is down and I want to check my email.
   Hello everyone, this is your daily dose of internet.
2. (countable) Any set of computer networks that communicate using the Internet Protocol; an intranet.
3. (uncountable) Collectively, the users of the Internet.
   As soon as the trailer was released, the internet went nuts.
   In 2014, a hot dog entrepreneur, Laura Ustick, general manager of Superdawg in Chicago, Illinois, asked the internet to get behind her in support of the Emoji Hot Dog. 2015, Emojis : the secret behind the smile, page 41
   On Friday, as the internet reacted to the video of Thomas getting arrested for walking in the street, the city rushed out a statement explaining what happened around noon last Wednesday. 2016, Star Tribune 2016-10-19, page 5
   One of their most recognised challenges was posting a photo of an animal from their collection and challenging users to Photoshop that image into other paintings. @TheMERL gave the call to action and the internet answered. 2021, The Complete Guide to Digital Marketing for Museums, page 64
4. (Internet slang, humorous) A fictitious unit of scoring awarded for making outstanding posts on the internet.
   You did a nice job there Patty … you came off as intelligent, well-spoken, and concerned about the well being of the victims, in stark contrast to the self-serving, uncaring, unconcerned attitude of the Narconon spokeswoman. 100 internets for you! 5 April 2008, “Anonology”, “Narconon Exposed tonight on Canadian TV”, in alt.religion.scientology (Usenet)
   I have been looking through CupOJoes and kind of want something dark with a silver band between the bit and the bowl [of the pipe]. That's not a must, but 1000 internets go to the first person to find one. 7 August 2010, “Bilbo”, “Looking for a Billiard”, in alt.smokers.pipes (Usenet)
   You win one internet. 12 November 2011, David Johnston, “What Did You Watch? 2011-11-10 (Thursday)”, in rec.arts.tv (Usenet)
   I hope this is sarcastic. Otherwise -100 internets for you. 14 October 2011, Unifarva@sticklerboi.com, “10 Not So Insanely Great Things Apple Released Under Steve Jobs”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet)
   Do I win an internet? 26 February 2013, Devon H. O’Dell, “[9fans] Ancient History: ‘Electronic Mail Without Aliases’”, in comp.os.plan9 (Usenet)

verb

1. (intransitive, Internet, informal) To use the Internet; specifically, to search for information using the Internet.
   Having no idea what that means, I am internetting like mad.
   We have several groups of Internetters, from Alaska, from New Zealand, and a group from San Francisco interested in deserts as a context where different faiths developed. Internetting with them could stimulate discussion. Internetting with other countries is seen as a way of broadening the students' areas of interest and triggering their questions. 2002, Soshana Keiny, “The Conceptual Framework of the Book”, in Ecological Thinking: A New Approach to Educational Change, Lanham, Md., New York, N.Y.: University Press of America, page 14
   Most of us, before and after the second uprising, can be found in schools, offices, or factories, going about our everyday lives. Dreaming, working hard for a future. Texting, internetting, entertaining ourselves in the present. 2005, Vincente L. Rafael, “The Cell Phone and the Crowd: Messianic Politics in the Contemporary Philippines”, in Daniel Rosenberg, Susan Harding, editors, Histories of the Future, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, page 87
   I collect cookbooks, too. And recipes, you know, that I've internetted. 2021, Shirley Goldberg, chapter 15, in Eat Your Heart Out (Starting Over; 2), [Adams Basin, N.Y.?]: The Wild Rose Press

Etymology 2

From inter- (prefix meaning ‘amid, among; between’) + net (“to form a netting or network”).

verb

1. (archaic, rare) To entwine or link (several things) together, so as to form a network">network; to interconnect, to network">network.
   A railroad performs in a single day as much work as a ship in a whole year. This is done, too, in the midst of society, internetted among the cities, the farms, the dwellings of the people. 1856 March, John O’Fallon et al., “Article IV. Report on the ‘Overland Mail’ from Missouri to California.”, in M. Tarver, H. Cobb, editors, The Western Journal and Civilian, Devoted to Agriculture, Manufactures, Mechanic Arts, Internal Improvement, Commerce, Public Policy, and Polite Literature, volume XV, number 4, St. Louis, Mo.: […] M. Niedner & Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 250
   With 1849 began the organization of the secret societies, which, regulated from Piedmont, internetted the entire southern peninsula. 1862 September, “The Two Sicilies in 1862. [First Notice.]”, in Charles Patrick Meehan], editor, Duffy’s Hibernian Sixpenny Magazine, volume II (New Series), number 9, Dublin, London: James Duffy,[…], →OCLC, page 284
   Thus silent and imperceptible is the webwork of material interests which are internetting the great family of nations with the bonds of peace. 1 November 1864, Elihu Burritt, “Material Bonds of Peace”, in Bond of Brotherhood, number 172 (New Series), London: Job Caudwell,[…]; Simpkin, Marshall & Co. and Kent & Co., →OCLC, page 370
   As the light filters through some gap in the topmost boughs into the damp atmosphere, it magnifies and confuses the foliage, and lights up thousands of monkey-ropes, or lianas, that hang from every branch through the forests and which stretch without beginning and without end, hanging loosely like gymnasium ropes, or swung up again in a giant loop, often twisting into fantastic knots as it internets with some other portion of the mighty cable. 13 November 1909, H. P. FitzGerald Marriott, “Correspondence. The Wonders of Tropical Africa.”, in The Spectator: A Weekly Review of Politics, Literature, Theology, and Art, volume 103, number 4,246, London: F. C. Westley, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 780, column 1
   ARTHROPYRENIA. Mass. Paraphyses loosely branching and internetting or absent; spores 2 to 6-locular, colorless, ovoid or oblong. 9 June 1913, Hermann Edward Hasse, “Systematic Treatment”, in The Lichen Flora of Southern California (Smithsonian Institution, Bulletin of the United States National Museum, Contributions from the United States National Herbarium; 17, part 1), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 11
   These studies finally resulted in the discovery of a membrane guanylate cyclase transduction system that is internetted with seven transmembrane receptor signaling system. 2002 January, Rameshwar K. Sharma, “Evolution of the Membrane Guanylate Cyclase Transduction System”, in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry: An International Journal for Chemical Biology in Health and Disease, volume 230, number 1, Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 2
   The synergistic effects achieved by internetting highly trained soldiers and leaders with platforms and organizational design enable the force to avoid surprise, develop rapid decisions, control the time and place to engage in combat, conduct precision maneuver, shape the battlespace with precision fires and effects, and achieve decisive outcomes. 2004, “Phase I Report: Operational Test Design and Evaluation of the Interim Armored Vehicle”, in Improved Operational Testing and Evaluation and Methods of Combining Test Information for the Stryker Family of Vehicles and Related Army Systems: Phase II Report, Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, page 118
2. (specifically, networking) To connect (a computer, an electronic device, etc.) into a computer network (in particular, the Internet).
   We are continuing our program of internetting our radar system with that of the Federal Aviation Agency. 14 February 1966, Robert S[trange] McNamara (witness), “Statement of the Secretary of Defense”, in Department of Defense Appropriations for 1967: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Eighty-ninth Congress, Second Session … Part 1[…], Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 59
   More efficient means of internetting the computers in the system must also be developed. 7 March 1975, Malcolm R[oderick] Currie (witness), “Statement of Dr. Malcolm R. Currie, Director, Defense Research and Engineering, Accompanied by Laurin A. Knutson, Assistant Director (Programing) O.D.D.R. & E.”, in Fiscal Year 1976 and July–September 1976 Transition Period Authorization for Military Procurement, Research and Development, and Active Duty, Selected Reserve, and Civilian Personnel Strengths: Hearings before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, Ninety-forth Congress, First Session on S. 920 […] Part 6: Research and Development[…], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 2756
   Other less dynamic examples of information networks include intelligence or military command centers, internetted with communications including different kinds of voice circuits, (i.e., encrypted and non encrypted), data communications, teletype, facsimile, and the like. 29 September 1981, Stephen J[oseph] Lukasik (witness), “Statement of Stephen J. Lukasik, Chief Scientist, Office of Science and Technology, Federal Communications Commission”, in Emergency Management Information and Technology: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, First Session[…] (no. 55), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, published [1982], →OCLC, page 119
   […] Soviet interceptors have been internetted with radars, enabling the use of early-warning radars to track reentry vehicles for interception. […] [T]he Soviets have evidently internetted their SA-5, not with earlier mechanical radars, but with phased-array systems that are far more adequate for reentry vehice tracking purposes. 1985 spring, Robert J. DeSutter, Jr., “SALT Nonviolations and the Evolution of a Compliance Policy”, in Robert J. DeSutter, Jr., compiler, Selected Readings and Documents on Postwar American Defense Policy, volume III, [Colorado Springs, Colo.: United States Air Force Academy]; Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_kuVaENf5iwC&pg=PA1041 page [1041]]
   We hear that Air Force Intelligence has officially concluded the Soviets have rolled production lines to break out of the ABM treaty and deploy a nationwide anti-missile system, which could possibly be in place by next year. […] [T]he Soviets are internetting their early-warning radars […] 25 February 1988, “Breakout”, in The Wall Street Journal, New York, N.Y.: Dow Jones & Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20
   Question. How will the various radars of the Caribbean Basin Radar Network be internetted together? / Answer. […] These operation centers will also be internetted so as to share surveillance data and coordinate tracking/interdiction efforts. 5 April 1990, John J. Welch Jr. (witness), Edward R. Bracken (witness), Thomas R. Ferguson (witness), “Missile and Other Procurement, Air Force”, in Department of Defense Appropriations for 1991: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session: Part 5[…], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 432
   An experiment conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the ARPANET experiment sought to explore technologies for the networking of remote research sites. ARPANET sends independent digital packets over networks "internetted" together to pass information. 1996 April–June, Robert J. Bunker, “Internetted Structures and C² Nodes”, in Susan M. Miranda, editor, Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin (PB 34-96-2), volume 2, number 2, Fort Huachuca, Ariz.: U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, →OCLC, page 26, column 2
   Emergency "patches" were applied to WWMCCS's General Comprehensive Operating System software as engineers desperately tried to find a way to work around the limitations of the Honeywell 6000 computers so that the network's nodes could be effectively internetted. 2000 June, David E[ric] Pearson, “WWMCCS Intercomputer Network”, in The World Wide Military Command and Control System: Evolution and Effectiveness, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.: Air University Press, page 186