Acronym for Internet Relay Chat. A service that enables an Internet user to participate in a conversation on line in real time with other users. An IRC channel, maintained by an IRC server, transmits the text typed by each user who has joined the channel to all other users who have joined the channel. Generally, a channel is dedicated to a particular topic, which may be reflected in the channel’s name. An IRC client shows the names of currently active channels, enables the user to join a channel, and then displays the other participants’ words on individual lines so that the user can respond. IRC was invented in 1988 by Jarkko Oikarinen of Finland. See also channel (definition 2), server (definition 2).
(Internet Relay Chat)
Basically a huge multi-user live chat facility. There are a number of major IRC servers around the world which are linked to each other. Anyone can create a channel and anything that anyone types in a given channel is seen by all others in the channel. Private channels can (and are) created for multi-person conference calls.