dotcomn.
/dɒtˈkɒm/, U.S. /ˌdɑtˈkɑm/ (in sense 2)Brit. /ˈdɒtkɒm/, U.S. /ˈdɑtˌkɑm/ 1. With prefixed word or words, forming a URL or email address. Also: (the name of) the com domain (domain n. Additions b) used in URLs and email addresses, originally intended for use by commercial organizations; = com n.
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1994 Newsday (N.Y.) 5 Apr. b29/2 If I were telling someone that address I'd say: ‘quit at newsday dot com.’
1999 Domain names 11 Feb. in alt.homepages.designtips.uk (Usenet newsgroup) Both will help you register with Internic (for a dot com domain) for 35 USD per annum and can host your site from about 10 pounds a month (or less).
2015 M. Helliwell Business Plus Level 3 98/1 Let me repeat that: chas minus sands at icloud dot com.
2. A business that provides products or services wholly or mainly via the internet, esp. one having an internet address ending with the suffix .com. Also: the internet as a business medium. Frequently attributive.
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society > occupation and work > business affairs > a business or company > [noun] > other types of company
incorporation1530
acquisitor1668
private company?1711
private practice1724
public company1730
trading house1760
acquiror1789
in-company1791
public corporation1796
company1800
subsidiary company1823
proprietary company1824
stock-company1827
trust company1827
subsidiary1828
concessionaire1839
commandite1844
statutory company1847
parent company1854
mastership1868
state enterprise1886
Pty.1904
asset class1931
acquirer1950
parent1953
growth company1959
spin-off1959
non-profit1961
shell1964
not-for-profit1969
vehicle1971
spin-out1972
startup1975
greenfield1982
large-cap1982
monoline1984
small cap1984
mid-cap1988
multidomestic1989
dotcom1996
1996 Internet World (Westport, Conn.) Nov. a6/2 A broad discussion of what's around the corner for dot.coms. What effect will ‘dumb-delivery’ devices have as they make the Web more accessible to the home market?
1999 Daily Tel. 28 Apr. 1/7 (advt.) The winning team in dot-com is Sun. We've dot-commed Man U..the UK..the world—bringing the culture of dot-com to enterprises large and small.
2000 Sunday Times 23 July (Business section) 16/6 Cybercrime is on the up—not all dotcom millionaires aim to make their fortunes through anything quite as wholesome as a stock-market listing.
3. British colloquial (frequently humorous). (chiefly in form .com). Used as an intensifier after adjectives to refer to the emotional or physical state of a person. [Probably after Confused.com, the proprietary name of a British financial services comparison website, founded in 2001.]
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2007 @Sleekmaus 23 Dec. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Bored bored bored.com.
2013 @Sallysmith061 15 Dec. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) It's been a very busy weekend. Knackered.com.
2017 @wellnicepops 29 Nov. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Congrats again Mark!!! Delighted.com.
Compounds
dot com bubble n. now historical an economic bubble which occurred during the latter half of the 1990's as a result of speculative investment in internet-based companies, and peaked around 2000.
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1999 Austral. Financial Rev. (Nexis) 19 Aug. 18 Australia's internet stocks finished largely down on Friday, ending a rollercoaster week in which many began to question whether the so-called ‘dot com bubble’ may have finally burst.
2009 T. Footman Noughties Introd. p. xiv The bursting of the dotcom bubble caused some short-term anguish in the markets.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
dotcomv.
/dɒtˈkɒm/, U.S. /ˌdɑtˈkɑm/ 1. transitive. To subject continually to references to internet businesses (which typically have an internet address ending with the suffix .com). rare and now disused.
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1996 Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, Maine) 9 June 1 g What with baseball scores, stock market reports and dot coms running across the bottom of our TV screens, there's hardly room left for the picture. We are doomed to being dot commed to death.
2. transitive (chiefly in passive). To enable (a person or company) to do business over the internet; to provide with an internet address, esp. one ending with the suffix .com. Also reflexive.
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1997 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Disp. 27 Feb. 41/3 Later Dick and Jane bombed. They're making a comeback. They've just been dot-commed.
1999 Forbes 8 Mar. 101/1 It's the foundation for ‘dot-comming’ ourselves. It's what the new networked economy is all about.
2000 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 7 June (Business Online section) 36 A programme designed to provide customers with the expertise to get their businesses dotcommed quickly.
2011 @antiroom 3 June in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) So it appears we are now dotcommed. www.theantiroom.com.
3. transitive (in passive). To be driven out of business or adversely affected by companies doing business over the internet.
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2000 N.Z. Herald 31 Mar. (Business section) 2/5 Things are changing by the week as companies try to avoid being ‘dot commed’ by nimble newcomers who do not carry their overheads.
2003 R. Krovi in C. V. Brown & H. Topi IS Managem. Handbk. (ed. 8) l. 627 Brick-and-mortar companies—which have always been faced with the danger of being ‘Amazoned’ or ‘dot.commed’—have responded in unique ways.
2015 Financial Times (Electronic ed.) 30 Sept. Memories of the last tech bubble, when big companies worried about being ‘dotcommed’ by internet start-ups that wanted to take their trade, have faded.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1994
v.1996