/noh' op/ alt. NOP /nop/ [no operation] 1. A machine instruction that does nothing (sometimes used in assembler-level programming as filler for data or patch areas, or to overwrite code to be removed in binaries). See also ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=JFCL">JFCL. 2. A person who contributes nothing to a project, or has nothing going on upstairs, or both. As in "He' s a no-op." 3. Any operation or sequence of operations with no effect, such as circling the block without finding a parking space, or putting money into a vending machine and having it fall immediately into the coin-return box, or asking someone for help and being told to go away. "Oh, well, that was a no-op." Hot-and-sour soup that is insufficiently either is "no-op soup" so is wonton soup if everybody else is having hot-and-sour. [ef="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Jargon File">Jargon File] (1994-12-02)
