marshalling

• (US) marshaling

marshalling

1. (British spelling) present participle and gerund of marshal

marshalling (countable and uncountable, plural marshallings)

1. (software) The process of transforming the memory representation of an object to a data format suitable for storage or transmission, which is typically used when data must be moved between different parts of a computer program, or from one program to another.
2. (heraldry) The arrangement of an escutcheon to exhibit the alliances of the owner.
3. (rail transport) The sorting of rolling stock in a marshalling yard.
   • 1960 June, “Talking of trains: The new Margam yard”, in Trains Illustrated, page 323:

     It is the first British yard in which every activity of hump marshalling, except for the driving of the hump locomotive and the uncoupling and coupling of wagons, is fully automatic or drastically simplified by modern aids.

   • 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 42:

     He wanted to see less marshalling of trains, and a move away from a culture that allowed 85% of a wagon's life to be spent "empty, being used as storage bins for goods or in sidings as coal scuttles".

• (heraldry): dimidiation, enté en point, impalement, quartering