Library / English Dictionary

CONSOLE

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Housing for electronic instruments, as radio or television

Synonyms:

cabinet; console

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("console" is a kind of...):

housing (a protective cover designed to contain or support a mechanical component)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An ornamental scroll-shaped bracket (especially one used to support a wall fixture)

Example:

the bust of Napoleon stood on a console

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("console" is a kind of...):

bracket; wall bracket (a support projecting from a wall (as to hold a shelf))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A scientific instrument consisting of displays and an input device that an operator can use to monitor and control a system (especially a computer system)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("console" is a kind of...):

scientific instrument (an instrument used by scientists)

Domain category:

computer; computing device; computing machine; data processor; electronic computer; information processing system (a machine for performing calculations automatically)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A small table fixed to a wall or designed to stand against a wall

Synonyms:

console; console table

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("console" is a kind of...):

table (a piece of furniture having a smooth flat top that is usually supported by one or more vertical legs)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give moral or emotional strength to

Synonyms:

comfort; console; solace; soothe

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "console"):

calm; calm down; lull; quiet; quieten; still; tranquilize; tranquillise; tranquillize (make calm or still)

allay; ease; relieve; still (lessen the intensity of or calm)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The good news will console her

The performance is likely to console Sue

Derivation:

consolable (able to be consoled)

consolation (the act of consoling; giving relief in affliction)

consolation (the comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment)

consolatory (affording comfort or solace)

Credits

 Context examples: 

If he would now speak to her with the unreserve which had sometimes been too much for her before, it would be most consoling; but that she found was not to be.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

How could you have consoled her!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Late at night I heard him consoling Dr. Huxtable, prostrated by the tragedy of his master’s death, and later still he entered my room as alert and vigorous as he had been when he started in the morning.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Come to the fire, said the master, when the tray was taken away, and Mrs. Fairfax had settled into a corner with her knitting; while Adele was leading me by the hand round the room, showing me the beautiful books and ornaments on the consoles and chiffonnieres.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This would soon have led to something better, of course, was her consoling reflection; any thing interests between those who love; and any thing will serve as introduction to what is near the heart.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

As a matter of ethics isn't the man who gives a bribe as bad as the man who takes a bribe? The receiver is as bad as the thief, you know; and you needn't console yourself with any fictitious moral superiority concerning this little deal.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I am imperfectly consoled for this disappointment by the sacred pledge, the perished flower.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"To the devil!" was the consoling answer.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I soon shall see you again in heaven, where we shall all be happy; and that consoles me, going as I am to suffer ignominy and death.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

So, while he copied the manuscript a third time, he consoled himself by multiplying ten columns by ten dollars.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)