Definitions
A small device that plugs into a computer or phone.
Word origin
Unknown. Likely a descendant of dangle, reflecting that electronic accessories such as computer peripherals often are plugged in via a flexible cable (although wirelessness is also often relevant). Claims that the word comes from a man named "Don Gall" were made up by an advertisement. First usage 1980-1985.
Used in a sentence
“Take the dongle, for example. It is the summit of copy protection, an explicit melding of software and hardware. Without the right hardware key—the dongle—plugged into the machine's parallel port, the software won't run.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“USB gadget”6 letters
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