Definition of "linear" []

• Of, relating to, or resembling a line; straight. (adjective)
• In, of, describing, described by, or related to a straight line. (adjective)
• Having only one dimension. (adjective)
• Characterized by, composed of, or emphasizing drawn lines rather than painterly effects. (adjective)
• Botany Narrow and elongated with nearly parallel margins: a linear leaf. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""The term linear just means that each output bit of the mixing function is the XOR of several of the input bits.","
• "If you think in linear algebra terms, the linear system is the addition operator, and the non-linear system is the multiplier (cross product in this case):"
• "Anthropologists get bound up in linear social progression to such an extent that knob-gourds are interpreted as meaning/representing all sorts of crazy things, when in reality they just make the wearer feel, you know, sexy."