What (who) is frobnicate - definition

/frob'ni-kayt/ (Possibly from frobnitz, and usually abbreviated to frob, but "frobnicate" is recognised as the official full form). To manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state devices. Thus: "Please frob the light switch" (that is, flip it), but also "Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it". One also sees the construction "to frob a frob". Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak sometimes connote points along a continuum. "Frob" connotes aimless manipulation; "twiddle" connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for a proper setting; "tweak" connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is fun, he's frobbing it. The variant "frobnosticate" has also been reported. (1994-12-16)

1. To munge; to process in an unspecified but vaguely complicated way.
2. To screw up in a particularly convoluted or elegant manner.
See also: Frobnicator
I'm not sure how that program works; all I know is it frobnicates whatever you type in so you can't read it anymore.

/frob/ 1. [MIT] The TMRC definition was "FROB = a protruding arm or trunnion"; by metaphoric extension, a "frob" is any random small thing; an object that you can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob (sense 2). See frobnitz. 2. Abbreviated form of frobnicate. 3. [MUD] A command on some MUDs that changes a player's experience level (this can be used to make wizards); also, to request wizard privileges on the "professional courtesy" grounds that one is a wizard elsewhere. The command is actually "frobnicate" but is universally abbreviated to the shorter form. [Jargon File]