[via the technical term `virtual memory',
prob. from the term `virtual image' in optics] 1. Common
alternative to logical; often used to refer to the artificial
objects (like addressable virtual memory larger than physical
memory) simulated by a computer system as a convenient way to manage
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.
VIRTUAL MEMORY: Memory that exists in effect, but not in fac he
usage is similar to that of the virtual particle in physics, the
difference being that a virtual particle probably does exist but
soon won't, while virtual memory probably doesn't but soon will....
