Net Terms

Boolean Searching

The term "Boolean search" refers to a system of logical thought 
developed by 19th-century English mathematician George Boole.  In 
boolean searching, an "and" denominator between two words or other 
values (for example, "apples AND oranges") means that one is searching 
for documents that contain both words, not just one.  An "or" 
denominator between two words ("apples OR oranges") means that you are 
searching for documents that contain either word.

Most search engines, such as Infoseek, Lycos, and Yahoo, all use 
boolean logic when conducting searches on the Internet.