microcodeoperation
nounUK /ˈmaɪkrəʊkəʊd ˌɒpəˈreɪʃən/
US /ˈmaɪkroʊkoʊd ˌɑːpəˈreɪʃən/
A tiny step that a computer chip does to follow a bigger instruction.
The processor broke the command into a microcodeoperation before moving the data.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A low-level action defined inside a processor's microcode.
Engineers debugged the microcodeoperation that handled register transfers.
3. A single primitive task in a microprogrammed control sequence.
Each microcodeoperation in the sequence was timed to one clock cycle.
4. A hardware-level step used to implement complex machine instructions.
The multiply instruction expands into several microcodeoperations.