core memory

core memorynoun

• 1

  historicalcomputingengineeringmathematicsA type of non-volatile random-access rewritable electronic memory using ferrite cores to magnetically store binary digits (bits).

  • Wilkes, on his visit to America in summer and fall 1950 had witnessed the core memory being implemented on the Whirlwind at MIT—and as in the case of seeing the control matrix in the same machine, this made a strong impression on him.
• 2

  informalA memory, especially one formed in childhood, which recalls a deeply significant event in one's life and can be remembered years later.

  • My high school graduation is a core memory.
  • Grandfather Frahm told young Herbert how his father had been held over a trestle and whipped repeatedly for disobedience, as if serfdom persisted. That had made a lasting imprint on Ludwig Frahm, and the recounting of it made an indelible impression on the grandson, who tells it as one of the core memories of his Lübeck childhood.