ALL meanings of nova
no·va
N n - noun nova A star showing a sudden large increase in brightness and then slowly returning to its original state over a few months. 1
- noun Definition of nova in Technology (processor) A minicomputer(?) introduced by Data General in 1969, with four 16-bit accumulators, AC0 to AC3, and a 15-bit program counter. A later model also had a 15-bit stack pointer and frame pointer. AC2 and AC3 could be used for indexed addressing and AC3 was used to store the return address on a subroutine call. Apart from the small register set, the NOVA was an ordinary CPU design. Memory could be accessed indirectly through addresses stored in other memory locations. If locations 0 to 3 were used for this purpose, they were auto-incremented after being used. If locations 4 to 7 were used, they were auto-decremented. Memory could be addressed in 16-bit words up to a maximum of 32K words (64K bytes). The instruction cycle time was 500 nanoseconds(?). The Nova originally used core memory, then later dynamic RAM. Like the PDP-8, the Data General Nova was also copied, not just in one, but two implementations - the Data General MN601 and Fairchild 9440. Luckily, the NOVA was a more mature design than the PDP-8. Another CPU, the PACE, was based on the NOVA design, but featured 16-bit addresses (instead of the Nova's 15), more addressing modes, and a 10-level stack (like the Intel 8008). 1
- noun nova astronomy: exploding star 1
- noun plural nova a star that suddenly becomes thousands of times brighter and then gradually fades to its original intensity. 1
- noun nova Also called Nova Salmon. a Pacific salmon cured in the style of Nova Scotia salmon. 1
- noun nova (lowercase) (loosely) any smoked salmon. 1
- noun nova a variable star that undergoes a cataclysmic eruption, observed as a sudden large increase in brightness with a subsequent decline over months or years; it is a close binary system with one component a white dwarf 0
- noun nova a type of variable star that suddenly increases in brightness by thousands to hundreds of thousands of times up to 14 magnitudes, and then decreases in brightness over a period of months to years 0