background

Property

background

Values

<background-color>, <background-image>, <background-repeat>, <background-attachment>, <background-position>

Initial

not defined for shorthand properties

Inherited

no

The 'background' property is a shorthand property for setting the individual background properties (i.e., 'background-color', 'background-image', 'background-repeat', 'background-attachment' and 'background-position') at the same place in the style sheet.

Possible values on the 'background' properties are the set of all possible values on the individual properties.

      BODY { background: red }
      P { background: url(chess.png) gray 50% repeat fixed }

The 'background' property always sets all the individual background properties. In the first rule of the above example, only a value for 'background-color' has been given and the other individual properties are set to their initial value. In the second rule, all individual properties have been specified.

background n.,adj.,vt.

[common] To do a task `in background' is to do it whenever foreground matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and `to background' something means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing problem in background." Note that this implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream `back burner' (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (a tack that one can often fruitfully take upon encountering an obstacle in creative work). Compare amp off, slopsucker.

Technically, a task running in background is detached from the terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority); oppose foreground. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with Unix, but it appears to have been first used in this sense on OS/360.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

Back"ground` (?), n. [Back, a. + ground.]

1.

Ground in the rear or behind, or in the distance, as opposed to the foreground, or the ground in front.

2. Paint.

The space which is behind and subordinate to a portrait or group of figures.

⇒ The distance in a picture is usually divided into foreground, middle distance, and background.

Fairholt.

3.

Anything behind, serving as a foil; as, the statue had a background of red hangings.

4.

A place in obscurity or retirement, or out of sight.

I fancy there was a background of grinding and waiting before Miss Torry could produce this highly finished . . . performance.
Mrs. Alexander.

A husband somewhere in the background.
Thackeray.

© Webster 1913.