interrupts
noun
Definitions
An event that causes a computer or other device to temporarily cease what it was doing and attend to a condition.
Example: The interrupt caused the packet handler routine to run.
verb
Definitions
To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly.
Example: A maverick politician repeatedly interrupted the debate by shouting.
To divide; to separate; to break the monotony of.
Example: The evenness of the road was not interrupted by a single hill.
To assert to (a computer) that an exceptional condition must be handled.
Example: The packet receiver circuit interrupted the microprocessor.