Dictionary
pe•riph•er•al
Pronunciation: (pu-rif'ur-ul), [key]—
adj.
1. pertaining to, situated in, or constituting the periphery:
peripheral resistance on the outskirts of the battle area.
2. concerned with relatively minor, irrelevant, or superficial aspects of the subject in question.
3. Anat.near the surface or outside of; external.
4. Computers.of or pertaining to a peripheral.
—
n.
Computers.a device or unit that operates separately from the CPU but is connected to it, as a magnetic disk or tape unit or a printer.
Also,peripheric (for defs. 1–3).Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.