Today's OED word of the day

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

chad, n.2 ADDITIONS SERIES 1993

Telegr. and Computing.

(tæd) [Origin unknown.]

(A piece of) the waste material removed from punched cards or tape during punching.

1959 J. W. FREEBODY Telegr. xi. 460/2 The small hinged discs of paper, called ‘chads’, remain attached to the body of the tape. 1968 J. BLACKBURN Nothing but Night vii. 64 The machines..spewed out the sixty-four-row punch cards... At the base of each machine was a vacuum tube to remove the dust and the chads. 1982 Computerworld 9 Aug. 59 The reader head is mounted on the front of the unit next to the chad box.
Hence chadless a., not producing or accompanied by chads.

1959 J. W. FREEBODY Telegr. xi. 460/2 In order..that the printed characters are completely legible, the tape is perforated by the chadless method. 1971 Gloss. Electrotechnical, Power Terms (B.S.I.) III. iii. 19 Chadless perforation. 1984 U.S. Patent 4,425,394 1 Each tag has a chadless hole provided by a pattern of knife cuts.