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Glite Dictionary
shift register

shift register

7.7
A small memory that moves bits left or right one place at a time
  • noun
  • /ʃɪft ˈrɛdʒɪstər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : registro de desplazamiento
  • In digital circuits, a shift register can be used to store multiple bits of data at once.
  • bits in the shift register
  • CCD shift register

Examples

  • According to the manual, the modules themselves are based on a pair of 74HC595 shift registers and are stackable.

    Blog text (8)

  • The photodiodes are lined up adjacent to a CCD shift register, which does the readout.

    Academic text (1992)

  • And we have a shift register structure here.

  • Then we're going to wait one more time to let the shift register clear out, which is new.

  • The clock, running at the bit rate and with a known phase, can then be used directly to clock the data into a shift register.

    Academic text (1996)

  • One can consider it a shift register of fixed length, which contains the recent past symbols.

    Academic text (1996)

  • A counter, counting up from 0 to 9, records the number of data bits currently held in the shift register.

    Academic text (1996)

  • The bootstrap-line driver circuits obtain their timing from the gate-line scanning shift registers.

    Academic text (2000)

  • It consists of a conventional parallel-load shift register running on one phase of the 200-MHz clock.

    Academic text (1996)

  • LZ1 algorithms adapt by maintaining a sliding-window history buffer, which can be thought of as a byte-wide shift register.

    Academic text (1998)

Synonyms

register
vsshift register
  • Specialized
5 7.0

A very small, fast memory inside a computer processor that holds data briefly

is a type that lets all bits move left or right in the circuit

Surface Forms

shift register singular
shift registers plural

Morphology

shift + register

The term is a straightforward compound: it denotes a register whose contents are shifted, so the meaning is directly derivable from 'shift' (move/change position) + 'register' (a small storage unit). Although it is a technical, domain-specific term, the semantic composition is regular and follows common noun–noun modification patterns, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Shift register comes from the simple image of a row of storage cells called a register, where each small piece of data is pushed along one step at a time to shift. That's why the term means a place that 'moves' or 'shifts' bits to the 'left' or 'right'.