1. /enkw/ or /enk/ ENQuire. The mnemonic for ASCII character 5. 2. An on-line convention for querying someone' s availability. After opening a chat connection to someone apparently in heavy hack mode, one might type "SYN SYN ENQ?" (the SYNs representing notional synchronisation bytes), and expect a return of ACK or NAK depending on whether or not the person felt interruptible. Compare ping, finger. [Jargon File] (1998-01-18)