Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Compiler \Com*pil"er\, n. [OE. compiluor; cf. OF. compileor, fr.
   L. compilator.]
   One who compiles; esp., one who makes books by compilation.

Source : WordNet®

compiler
     n 1: a person who compiles (or writes for) encyclopedias [syn: {encyclopedist},
           {encyclopaedist}]
     2: (computer science) a program that decodes instructions
        written in a higher order language and produces an
        assembly language program [syn: {compiling program}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

compiler
     
         A program that converts another program
        from some {source language} (or {programming language}) to
        {machine language} (object code).  Some compilers output
        {assembly language} which is then converted to {machine
        language} by a separate {assembler}.
     
        A compiler is distinguished from an assembler by the fact that
        each input statement does not, in general, correspond to a
        single machine instruction or fixed sequence of instructions.
        A compiler may support such features as automatic allocation
        of variables, arbitrary arithmetic expressions, control
        structures such as FOR and WHILE loops, variable {scope},
        input/ouput operations, {higher-order function}s and
        {portability} of source code.
     
        {AUTOCODER}, written in 1952, was possibly the first primitive
        compiler.  {Laning and Zierler}'s compiler, written in
        1953-1954, was possibly the first true working algebraic
        compiler.
     
        See also {byte-code compiler}, {native compiler}, {optimising
        compiler}.
     
        (1994-11-07)