GC: n

CT: Cloud computing, often referred to as simply “the cloud,” is the delivery of on-demand computing resources—everything from applications to data centers—over the Internet on a pay-for-use basis.

S: http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/what-is-cloud-computing.html (last access: 22 December 2014)

N: 1. cloud (n): Old English clud “mass of rock, hill,” related to clod. Metaphoric extension to “raincloud, mass of evaporated water in the sky” is attested by c.1200 based on similarity of cumulus clouds and rock masses. The usual Old English word for “cloud” was weolcan. In Middle English, skie also originally meant “cloud.”
computing (adj). From verb to compute. 1630s, from French computer, from Latin computare “to count, sum up, reckon together,” from com- “with” + putare “to reckon,” originally “to prune”. Related: Computed; computing.
2. A computing paradigm in which tasks are assigned to a combination of connections, software and services accessed over a network.
3. This network of servers and connections is collectively known as “the cloud.” Computing at the scale of the cloud allows users to access supercomputer-level power.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=cloud&searchmode=none; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=compute&searchmode=none (last access: 22 December 2014). 2 & 3. TERMIUM PLUS (last access: 22 December 2014).

SYN: cloudputing

S: GDT (last access: 22 December 2014)

CR: bioinformatics, cloud infrastructure, computer science, computational science, Internet , semantic network, Semantic Web.