[W/K] :: bandwidth

  bandwidth \band"width`\ n.
     The maximum rate of information transfer (measured in
     bits/second) that can be carried by a communication channel.
     "The bandwidth of an analog telephone line is less than 100
     kilobits per second."
     [WordNet 1.5]

  bandwidth
       n : a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information
           (bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel

  bandwidth n. 1. [common] Used by hackers (in a generalization of its
     technical meaning) as the volume of information per unit time that a
     computer, person, or transmission medium can handle. "Those are amazing
     graphics, but I missed some of the detail -- not enough bandwidth, I
     guess." Compare low-bandwidth; see also brainwidth. This generalized
     usage began to go mainstream after the Internet population explosion of
     1993-1994. 2. Attention span. 3. On Usenet, a measure of network
     capacity that is often wasted by people complaining about how items
     posted by others are a waste of bandwidth.
  
  

  bandwidth
       
           The difference between the highest and lowest
          frequencies of a transmission channel (the width of its
          allocated band of frequencies).
       
          The term is often used erroneously to mean data rate or
          capacity - the amount of data that is, or can be, sent
          through a given communications circuit per second.
       
          [How is data capacity related to bandwidth?]
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (2001-04-24)