virtual storage


noun Computers.

a system whereby addressable memory is extended beyond main storage through the use of secondary storage managed by system software in such a way that programs can treat all of the designated storage as addressable main storage.
Also called virtual memory.
Compare real storage.

Origin of virtual storage

First recorded in 1970–75

British Dictionary definitions for virtual storage

virtual storage

virtual memory


noun

a computer system in which the size of the memory is effectively increased by automatically transferring sections of a program from a large capacity backing store, such as a disk, into the smaller core memory as they are required