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Glite Dictionary
MS-DOS

MS-DOS

1 6.7
An old operating system made by Microsoft for early personal computers
  • noun
  • /ˌɛmˌɛsˈdɔs/
  • Archaic
translation icon : MS-DOS
  • During the late 1980s, most new IBM-compatible computers shipped with MS-DOS pre-installed.
  • MS-DOS operating system
  • MS-DOS computers

You can guarantee that there would probably be a community of people still maintaining MS-DOS today.

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Examples

  • After that, Microsoft's MS-DOS was adopted by IBM's 1981 PC design.

    Blog text (18)

  • At the time, Microsoft had dominance in command line OS with MS-DOS.

    Blog text (6)

  • We live in an MS-DOS/Windows world, and there is just no way around it.

    Blog text (11)

  • You can guarantee that there would probably be a community of people still maintaining MS-DOS today.

    Computerphile

  • Will Microsoft OS keep on supporting MS-DOS-based programs in the future?

    Blog text (25)

  • The manufacturers plan to offer a version of the software for IBM or MS-DOS computers as well.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Windows itself was pretty jarring when people made the transition from MS-DOS, but I think they got over it.

    Blog text (2)

  • It was written for MS-DOS computers and functions best with a hard disk drive.

    Academic text (1991)

  • It's not true; hidden away under the graphical interface is something called MS-DOS 7.0.

    Blog text (11)

  • I've been using MS-DOS, Win 3.1, Win 95, 98, Win 2000, and XP for the past 15 years.

    Blog text (24)

Synonyms

DOS
vsMS-DOS
  • Archaic
12 7.5

An early computer system that runs from a disk on personal computers

is narrower by naming Microsoft's original IBM compatible version
Microsoft disk operating system
vsMS-DOS
  • Archaic
3.9

A basic system made by Microsoft that runs early personal computers

is the common Microsoft name for the same early operating system

Surface Forms

MS-DOS singular

Etymology

MS-DOS is a name made from parts: MS stands for 'Microsoft' and DOS stands for 'Disk Operating System'. The DOS part shows it was the program that managed 'disks' and ran other programs, so MS-DOS is the early Microsoft system for running and organising files on personal computers.