baud
/bawd/ [simplified from its technical meaning] n. Bits per
second. Hence kilobaud or Kbaud, thousands of bits per second.
The technical meaning is `level transitions per second'; this
coincides with bps only for two-level modulation with no framing or
stop bits. Most hackers are aware of these nuances but blithely
ignore them.
Historical note: `baud' was originally a unit of telegraph signalling
speed, set at one pulse per second. It was proposed at the
International Telegraph Conference of 1927, and named after J.M.E.
Baudot (1845--1903), the French engineer who constructed the first
successful teleprinter.
