< history > /zhah-kar'/ A mechanical loom, invented by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in 1801, which used the holes punched in pasteboard punch cards (which see) to control the weaving of patterns in fabric. It was the first machine to use punch cards, although it did no computation based on them.
http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/hollerith/loom.htm .
(1998-10-19)