<COMputer> A COMputer which can use hardware and software designed for the IBM PC (or, less often, IBM mainframes). This was once a key phrase in marketing a new PC clone but now in 1998 is rarely used, the non-IBM wintel {personal COMputer} manufacturers such as {COMpaq}, {Dell} and {Gateway 2000} and OS vendor {Microsoft} having taken control of the market, marginalising IBM. (1998-07-30)