black hole

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Noun 1.1.1 Antonyms 1.1.2 Derived terms 1.1.3 Translations 1.1.4 See also 1.1.5 External links

[edit] English

[edit] Noun

black hole (plural black holes)

1. A gravitationally domineering celestial body with an event horizon from which even light cannot escape; the most dense material in the universe, condensed into a singularity, usually formed by a collapsing massive star.
2. A sphere of influence into which or from which communication or similar activity is precluded.
   • 2006 October 23, Tom Zeller Jr., “The Internet Black Hole That Is North Korea”, The New York Times

     Julien Pain, head of the Internet desk at Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based group which tracks censorship around the world, put it more bluntly. “It is by far the worst Internet black hole,” he said.

   • 2000 November 26, Linda Seebach, “Unwanted e-mail belongs in an Internet black hole”, RockyMountainNews.com [1]

     you'll have to love U.S. District Court Judge John Kane's decision to keep Denver-based Exactis.com out of an Internet black hole.... MAPS maintains a database of Internet addresses that it believes send or relay spam. It’s called the "Realtime Blackhole List"

3. An entity which consumes time or resources without demonstrable utility.
   • 2004 September 30, Andrew P. Leyden, “The Internet black hole”, PenguinSix, at PenguinSix.com [2]

     Now that I’m basically up all night US Time, I’ve started to notice that there really isn’t that much going on on the net between say 10:00 and 9:00 AM EDT.

   • 2004 November 16, Jenifer Hanen, “How I fell down an Internet Black Hole....”, Black Phoebe, at www.blackphoebe.com [3]

     I finished some client work and gave myself 30 minutes to fall down one of my favorite internet black holes: genealogical research. Four hours plus some later, my eyes were burning in my head

[edit] Antonyms

• white hole

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Translations

[edit] See also

• white dwarf
• neutron star
• collapsar

[edit] External links

• Black hole on Wikipedia.Wikipedia