microchip

«microchip» in Mova's school dictionary: a very small piece of material, usually silicon, carrying… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a microchip, microchips; also chip); verb (microchip, microchips, microchipped, microchipping — to put a chip in a pet)

meaning for a pupil

1) A microchip is a very small piece of material, usually silicon, carrying tiny electronic circuits that store information or do calculations inside computers, phones and other machines. tree →

2) A microchip is also a tiny chip, the size of a grain of rice, put under a pet's skin by a vet so a lost pet can be identified. tree →

3) To microchip a pet means to put this chip in. tree →

sense in the lessons

In computing lessons, microchips (also called integrated circuits or just chips) are the «brains» of devices: processors hold billions of tiny switches called transistors. In everyday life, bank cards, passports and pets have chips. In the UK it is the law to microchip dogs and cats. Phrases: «microchip a dog», «computer chip», «chip and PIN».

examples

• A phone contains many microchips. tree →
• The vet microchipped our new puppy. tree →
• The lost cat was returned home because of her microchip. tree →
• Microchips are made from silicon, which comes from sand. tree →
• One microchip can hold billions of tiny switches. tree →
• My bank card has a microchip in it. tree →
• Making microchips needs super-clean factories. tree →

note

Plural «microchips». The verb doubles p: microchipped, microchipping. Often shortened to «chip». Myth: a pet microchip is not a GPS tracker; it cannot show where the pet is, it only gives an ID number when scanned. «Micro» means very small.

In the corpora

• A microchip is about the size of a grain of rice and is placed under the skin between the shoulder blades.
• In Britain dogs must be microchipped by law, and since 2024 pet cats must be too.
• The latch gets fixed and Scout gets microchipped.
• In the late 1950s engineers invented the microchip, which put many tiny parts onto a small piece of silicon.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «microchip» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.