degauss
/diːˈɡaʊs
/verb [with object]
1 Electronics Remove unwanted magnetism from (a television or monitor) in order to correct colour disturbance: (as noun degaussing) the degaussing of a monitor...
- Closest thing a programmer has been to a rave is the last time they degaussed their monitor.
- But if you degauss a hard disk, you can never use it again.
- Otherwise, the tape must be properly degaussed.
2 historical Neutralize the magnetic field of (a ship) by encircling it with a conductor carrying electric currents.The first part of the experiment took place in 1943 when a powerful electromagnetic field was used to degauss the ship without any damage to electronic equipment on board....
- The size arrangement and location of the degaussing coils are based on finite element modelling of the ship structure and major equipment fits.
- The ship's degaussing is made up of 25 coils for the ship's structure as a whole and local coils for specific items of equipment.
Derivatives
degausser
- On a DLT tape with 80GB of compressed data, an industrial strength degausser must be employed.
- The only magnets powerful enough to scrub data from a drive platter are laboratory degaussers or those used by government agencies to wipe bits off media.
- Devices known as ‘degaussers’ are routinely used for this purpose.
Origin
Mid 20th century: from de- + gauss.