Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Object Linking and Embedding
     
         (OLE) A distributed object system and
        {protocol} from {Microsoft}, also used on the Acorn
        {Archimedes}.  OLE allows an editor to "farm out" part of a
        document to another editor and then reimport it.  For example,
        a {desk-top publishing} system might send some text to a {word
        processor} or a picture to a {bitmap} editor using OLE.
     
        (1998-12-17)