buffer overflow

buffer overflow n.  What happens when you try to stuff more
   data into a buffer (holding area) than it can handle.  This may be
   due to a mismatch in the processing rates of the producing and
   consuming processes (see {overrun} and {firehose syndrome}),
   or because the buffer is simply too small to hold all the data that
   must accumulate before a piece of it can be processed.  For
   example, in a text-processing tool that {crunch}es a line at a
   time, a short line buffer can result in {lossage} as input from
   a long line overflows the buffer and trashes data beyond it.  Good
   defensive programming would check for overflow on each character
   and stop accepting data when the buffer is full up.  The term is
   used of and by humans in a metaphorical sense.  "What time did I
   agree to meet you?  My buffer must have overflowed."  Or "If I
   answer that phone my buffer is going to overflow."  See also
   {spam}, {overrun screw}.