n. | 1. | (Rom. Antiq.) The area in the central part of an amphitheater, in which the gladiators fought and other shows were exhibited; - so called because it was covered with sand. |
2. | Any place of public contest or exertion; any sphere of action; | |
3. | (Med.) "Sand" or "gravel" in the kidneys. |
Noun | 1. | arena - a particular environment or walk of life; "his social sphere is limited"; "it was a closed area of employment"; "he's out of my orbit" |
2. | arena - the central area of an ancient Roman amphitheater where contests and spectacles were held; especially a sand-strewn area | |
3. | arena - a large structure for open-air sports or entertainments | |
4. | arena - a playing field where sports events take place Synonyms: scene of action |
(programming) | arena - The area of memory attached to a Unix process
by the brk and sbrk system calls and used by malloc as
dynamic storage. So named from a "malloc: corrupt arena"
message emitted when some early versions detected an
impossible value in the free block list. See overrun screw, aliasing bug, memory leak, memory smash, smash the stack. |