v.
Randomly adjusting the settings of an object, such as the dials on a piece of equipment or the options in a software program, in an effort to learn how the object works.
Example Citation:
"Why is babbling so important? The infant is like a person who has been given a complicated piece of audio equipment bristling with unlabeled knobs and switches but missing the instruction manual. In such situations people resort to what hackers call frobbing — fiddling aimlessly with the controls to see what happens."
— Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct
Categories:
New words. 2013.