Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

applicative order reduction
     
         An {evaluation strategy} under which an
        expression is evaluated by repeatedly evaluating its leftmost
        innermost {redex}.  This means that a function's arguments are
        evaluated before the function is applied.  This method will
        not terminate if a function is given a non-terminating
        expression as an argument even if the function is not {strict}
        in that argument.  Also known as {call-by-value} since the
        values of arguments are passed rather than their names.  This
        is the evaluation strategy used by {ML}, {Scheme}, {Hope} and
        most {procedural languages} such as {C} and {Pascal}.
     
        See also {normal order reduction}, {parallel reduction}.
     
        (1995-01-25)