noun. In ancient Greek belief, a divinity or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans. Archaic spelling of "demon". In computing, a background process that handles requests for services such as print spooling and file transfers, and is dormant when not required.
Kathy frowned at the message in her email inbox. She had no idea what the term in the "From" box meant. Pushing back her chair, she got up and headed to the computer room to ask the people who probably did know.
As she approached the door, she could see all three of them, engaged in conversation. Good: her chances of getting an explanation of that mystifying term were better if she addressed the question to all the experts in the company.
They turned toward her as she entered the room, pausing their conversation.
"I just got a message from the 'Mailer ...' uh ...." She frowned, unsure how to pronounce the second word in the phrase.
''Mailer Daemon?'' Nancy asked, reading Kathy's mind. She pronounced the second word as if it was spelled D-E-M-O-N.
Kathy smiled in relief. "Yes! What is that? What does it mean?"
"It's a server program that routes undeliverable emails back to the sender. You need to read it and find out which message you sent was addressed wrongly."
Kathy nodded, thanked her, and headed back to her desk to solve the problem. She was glad those three were in that room, ready to answer her computer questions eight hours a day. She chuckled. That wasn't their job, but they never minded helping her out or educating her, and she was grateful.
Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), or from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.
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