ACK

(ACKnowledgment code) The communications code sent from a receiving station to a transmitting station to indicate that it is ready to accept data. It is also used to acknowledge the error-free receipt of transmitted data. Contrast with NAK.

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1. [common; from the ASCII mnemonic for 0000110] Acknowledge. Used to register one's presence (compare mainstream Yo!). An appropriate response to ping or ENQ.

2. [from the comic strip Bloom County] An exclamation of surprised disgust, esp. in “Ack pffft!” Semi-humorous. Generally this sense is not spelled in caps (ACK) and is distinguished by a following exclamation point.

3. Used to politely interrupt someone to tell them you understand their point (see NAK). Thus, for example, you might cut off an overly long explanation with “Ack. Ack. Ack. I get it now”.

4. An affirmative. “Think we ought to ditch that damn NT server for a Linux box?” “ACK!”

There is also a usage “ACK?” (from sense 1) meaning “Are you there?”, often used in email when earlier mail has produced no reply, or during a lull in talk mode to see if the person has gone away (the standard humorous response is of course NAK, i.e., “I'm not here”).

Look up ack in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ack is a common exclamation, of general or unwanted surprise

ACK as an abbreviation that may refer to:

• ACK (TCP), a packet message used in the Transmission Control Protocol to acknowledge receipt of a packet.
• Acknowledge character, a control character used in ASCII.
• Acklington railway station (National Rail: ACK), a rail station in the United Kingdom.
• Amar Chitra Katha, an Indian comic book series
• Amsterdam Compiler Kit, a fast, lightweight and retargetable compiler suite
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen, a German Christian church.
• Nantucket Memorial Airport (IATA code: ACK), a Massachusetts airport (referring to Nantucket Memorial Airport).

Ack as a word may also refer to:

• Ack ack, a term for anti-aircraft artillery fire.
• ack, the name of a grep-like command-line tool built for software development environments.

See also

• Acknowledgment

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