ABEND: /a'bend/, /*-bend'/ n. [ABnormal END] 1. Abnormal
termination (of software); crash; lossage. Derives from an
error message on the IBM 360; used jokingly by hackers but seriously
mainly by code grinders. Usually capitalized, but may appear as
`abend'. Hackers will try to persuade you that ABEND is called
`abend' because it is what system operators do to the machine late
on Friday when they want to call it a day, and hence is from the
German `Abend' = `Evening'. 2. [alt.callahans] Absent By Enforced
Net Deprivation - used in the subject lines of postings warning
friends of an imminent loss of Internet access. (This can be
because of computer downtime, loss of provider, moving or illness.)
Variants of this also appear: ABVND = `Absent By Voluntary Net
Deprivation' and ABSEND = `Absent By Self-Enforced Net Deprivation'
have been sighted.
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