The top bit of an 8-bit character, which is on in character values 128--255. Also called high bit , alt bit , or hobbit . Some terminals and consoles (see space-cadet keyboard ) have a META shift key. Others (including, *mirabile dictu*, keyboards on IBM PC-class machines) have an ALT key. See also bucky bits .
Historical note: although in modern usage shaped by a universe of 8-bit bytes the meta bit is invariably hex 80 ( octal 0200), things were different on earlier machines with 36 bit words and 9-bit bytes. The MIT and Stanford keyboards (see space-cadet keyboard ) generated hex 100 (octal 400) from their meta keys.
[ Jargon File ]