From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
delta
n 1: a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river
divides before entering a larger body of water; "the
Mississippi River delta"; "the Nile delta"
2: an object shaped like an equilateral triangle
3: the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Delta \Del"ta\, n.; pl. Deltas. [Gr. de`lta, the name of the
fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (the capital form of
which is [Delta], Eng. D), from the Ph[oe]nician name of the
corresponding letter. The Greeks called the alluvial deposit
at the mouth of the Nile, from its shape, the Delta of the
Nile.]
1. The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet ([Delta] [delta]),
corresponding to D. Hence, an object having the shape of
the capital [Delta].
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. A tract of land shaped like the letter delta ([Delta]),
especially when the land is alluvial and inclosed between
two or more mouths of a river; as, the delta of the
Ganges, of the Nile, or of the Mississippi.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Elec.) The closed figure produced by connecting three
coils or circuits successively, end for end, esp. in a
three-phase system; -- often used attributively, as delta
winding, delta connection (which see), etc.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
Delta
<language>
1. An expression-based language developed by J.C. Cleaveland
in 1978.
2. A string-processing language with single-character commands
from Tandem Computers.
3. A language for system specification of simulation
execution.
["System Description and the DELTA Language",
E. Holback-Hansen et al, DELTA Proj Rep 4, Norweg Comput Ctr,
Feb 1977].
4. A COBOL generating language produced by {Delta Software
Entwicklung GmbH (http://delta-software.de/)}.
(2000-08-02)
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
delta
within delta of
1. A quantitative change, especially a small or incremental
one (this use is general in physics and engineering). "I just
doubled the speed of my program!" "What was the delta on
program size?" "About 30 percent." (He doubled the speed of
his program, but increased its size by only 30 percent.)
2. [Unix] A diff, especially a diff stored under the set
of version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control
System) or RCS (Revision Control System). See {change
management}.
3. A small quantity, but not as small as epsilon. The
jargon usage of delta and epsilon stems from the
traditional use of these letters in mathematics for very small
numerical quantities, particularly in "epsilon-delta" proofs
in limit theory (as in the differential calculus). The term
delta is often used, once epsilon has been mentioned, to
mean a quantity that is slightly bigger than epsilon but
still very small. "The cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta"
means that the cost isn't totally negligible, but it is
nevertheless very small. Common constructions include "within
delta of ---", "within epsilon of ---": that is, "close to"
and "even closer to".
[Jargon File]
(2000-08-02)
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
delta
n.
1. [techspeak] A quantitative change, especially a small or
incremental one (this use is general in physics and engineering). "I
just doubled the speed of my program!" "What was the delta on program
size?" "About 30 percent." (He doubled the speed of his program, but
increased its size by only 30 percent.)
2. [Unix] A diff, especially a diff stored under the set of
version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control System) or RCS
(Revision Control System).
3. n. A small quantity, but not as small as epsilon. The jargon
usage of delta and epsilon stems from the traditional use of these
letters in mathematics for very small numerical quantities,
particularly in `epsilon-delta' proofs in limit theory (as in the
differential calculus). The term delta is often used, once epsilon
has been mentioned, to mean a quantity that is slightly bigger than
epsilon but still very small. "The cost isn't epsilon, but it's
delta" means that the cost isn't totally negligible, but it is
nevertheless very small. Common constructions include within delta of
--, within epsilon of --: that is, `close to' and `even closer to'.