streaming

(computer science) A malfunction in which a communicating device constantly transmits worthless data and thereby locks out all other devices on the line.

(1) Transmitting digital audio or video. Streaming usually refers to listening to audio or watching video while it is being transmitted from a remote source in contrast with downloading and storing the material first. See streaming audio, streaming video and home theater streaming.

(2) Transferring or transmitting data. For example, the phrase "the device was streaming data" is another way of saying that data were being transferred or transmitted with no reference to the more widely heard usage of the term in definition #1 above. See stream.

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