Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Ode \Ode\, n. [F., fr. L. ode, oda, Gr. ? a song, especially a
   lyric song, contr. fr. ?, fr. ? to sing; cf.Skr. vad to
   speak, sing. Cf. {Comedy}, {Melody}, {Monody}.]
   A short poetical composition proper to be set to music or
   sung; a lyric poem; esp., now, a poem characterized by
   sustained noble sentiment and appropriate dignity of style.

         Hangs odes upon hawthorns and elegies on brambles.
                                                  --Shak.

         O! run; prevent them with thy humble ode, And lay it
         lowly at his blessed feet.               --Milton.

   {Ode factor}, one who makes, or who traffics in, odes; --
      used contemptuously.

Source : WordNet®

ode
     n : a lyric poem with complex stanza forms

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Ode
     
        An {Object-Oriented Database} from {AT&T} which extends {C++}
        and supports fast queries, complex application modelling and
        {multimedia}.
     
        Ode uses one integrated data model ({C++} {class}es) for both
        database and general purpose manipulation.  An Ode database is
        a collection of {persistent} {object}s.  It is defined,
        queried and manipulated using the language {O++}.  O++
        programs can be compiled with C++ programs, thus allowing the
        use of existing C++ code.  O++ provides facilities for
        specifying transactions, creating and manipulating persistent
        objects, querying the database and creating and manipulating
        versions.
     
        The Ode object database provides four object compatible
        mechanisms for manipulating and querying the database.  As
        well as O++ there are OdeView - an {X Window System}
        interface; OdeFS (a file system interface allowing objects to
        be treated and manipulated like normal Unix files); and CQL++,
        a {C++} variant of {SQL} for easing the transition from
        {relational database}s to OODBs such as Ode.
     
        Ode supports large objects (critical for {multimedia}
        applications).  Ode tracks the relationship between versions
        of objects and provides facilities for accessing different
        versions.  Transactions can be specified as read-only; such
        transactions are faster because they are not logged and they
        are less likely to {deadlock}.  'Hypothetical' transactions
        allow users to pose "what-if" scenarios (as with
        {spreadsheet}s).
     
        EOS, the {storage engine} of Ode, is based on a client-server
        architecture.  EOS supports {concurrency} based on
        {multi-granularity} two-version two-phase locking; it allows
        many readers and one writer to access the same item
        simultaneously.  Standard two-phase locking is also available.
        Ode supports both a {client-server} mode for multiple users
        with concurrent access and a single user mode giving improved
        performance.
     
        Ode 3.0 is currently being used as the {multimedia} {database
        engine} for {AT&T}'s {Interactive TV} project.  Ode 2.0 has
        also been distributed to more than 80 sites within AT&T and
        more than 340 universities.  Ode is available free to
        universities under a non-disclosure agreement.  The current
        version, 3.0, is available only for {Sun} {SPARCstations}
        running {SunOS} 4.1.3 and {Solaris} 2.3.  Ode is being ported
        to {Microsoft} {Windows NT}, {Windows 95} and {SGI}
        {platform}s.
     
        E-mail: Narain Gehani .
     
        (1994-08-18)