- terminal (adj.)
- 1459, "relating to or marking boundaries," from L. terminalis "pertaining to a boundary or end, final," from terminus "end, boundary line" (see terminus). Meaning "fatal" (terminal illness) is first recorded 1891. Sense of "situated at the extreme end of something" is from 1805. The noun sense of "end point of a railway line" is from 1888; that of "device for communicating with a computer" is first recorded 1954. Slang meaning "extreme" first recorded 1983.