:virtual: [via the technical term `virtual memory', prob. from
the term `virtual image' in optics] adj. 1. Common alternative
to {logical}; often used to refer to the artificial objects
(like addressable virtual memory larger than physical memory)
created by a computer system to help the system control access to
shared resources. 2. Simulated; performing the functions of
something that isn't really there. An imaginative child's doll may
be a virtual playmate. Oppose {real}.
-- The AI Hackers Dictionary
