all elbows

English

Etymology

From the idea that these programs rudely elbow others out of their way.

Adjective

all elbows (not comparable)

  1. (computing, dated) of a program that steals whatever resources it needs without consideration for other tasks.
    • 1995 October 12, Randy Reames, “MFJ-1278 Software?”, in rec.radio.amateur.digital.misc, Usenet‎:
      Multicom goes beyond lame. It's about the worst example of
      an 'all elbows' 1984 vintage DOS program that I've seen in
      a long time. Yuk!
    • 1998 December 20, Iain Georgeson, “Boot sector woes”, in alt.dur.general, Usenet‎:
      It /will/ nuke NT's loader, but that's because NT is all
      elbows when it comes to booting.
    • 2002 March 22, Dowe Keller, “Hardest Mistake in Comp Arch to Fix”, in alt.folklore.computers, Usenet‎:
      Amen, even more than most games poor `all elbows' behavior, modern
      games are generally boring to the extreme.
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