1
: robot
Bennett's referring to … a new police robot. It looks similar to the Albuquerque Bomb Squad robot next to it—both have cameras, an articulated arm, a mechanical gripper, and tank-like treads. But Benett's bot is different; it has brains.—Popular Science
2
a
: a computer program that performs automatic repetitive tasks : agent sense 5
Several shopping "bots" will track down prices for on-line merchandise from a variety of vendors.—Sam Vincent Meddis
especially
: one designed to perform a malicious action
These bot programs churn away all day and night, prodding at millions of random IP addresses looking for holes to crawl through. —Jennifer Tanaka
b
: a computer that has been infected with a bot and can be used for malicious purposes as part of a network of infected computers
These proxies then sent instructions to worker bots in set patterns, including templates for spam creation.—Jeff Hecht
3
: a computer program or character (as in a game) designed to mimic the actions of a person
variants
or less commonly bott
: the larva of a botfly
especially
: one infesting the horse
1
botanical; botanist; botany
2
bottle
3
bottom
4
bought
Cite this Entry
“Bot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bot. Accessed 26 Mar. 2025.
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