IBM

• IPA^(key): /ˈˌʌɪbiːˈɛm/

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IBM

1. Initialism of International Business Machines.
   • 2019 February 3, “UN Study: China, US, Japan Lead World AI Development”, in Voice of America‎, archived from the original on 7 February 2019:

     The study found that U.S. technology company IBM had by far the largest number of AI-related patents, with 8,920.

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2. Initialism of International Brotherhood of Magicians.
3. (geology) Initialism of Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc.

• IBMer
• IBM PC
• IBM Pollyanna Principle

IBM (plural IBMs)

1. Intercontinental ballistic missile; ICBM.
   • 1956 June, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, volume 12, number 6, page 186:

     They see this last possibility in an international agreement to stop further atomic and thermonuclear bomb tests and halt the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (IBMs).

   • 1987, Kenneth David Nichols, The Road to Trinity, page 294:

     Today we need a defense against IBM attack. When as chief of R&D I urged Army Ordnance to develop an antimissile missile, I heard repeatedly that you can't hit a bullet with a bullet, so it is impossible to develop such a missile.

   • 1990, William Elliott Butler, Perestroika and International Law, page 155:

     Thus, they limit to a strictly defined number the quantity of armed IBMs in the USSR and the United States, as well as ballistic missiles of submarines.

2. (figuratively) A company that dominates its field.
   • 1968, George Washington University, Computers-in-Law Institute, National Law Center, The Law of Software: 1968 Proceedings:

     Univac was the IBM of the computer industry's incipiency; in 1952 Univac had virtually 100% of the market.

   • 1982, Tracy Kidder, The Soul Of A New Machine, →ISBN, page 238:

     First, to Sperry Univac, the descendent^[sic] of the first real computer company, which might have become the IBM of the industry had it not blown its early lead;

   • 1990, Alfred Balk, The Myth of American Eclipse: The New Global Age, →ISBN, page 81:

     The US lead was mainly due to one firm, the IBM of its small, specialized field: Cray Research Inc.

• IBM at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “IBM”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• BMI, Bim, MIB, MiB, Mib, bim, mib