hand·shake / ˈhan(d)ˌshāk/ • n. an act of shaking a person's hand with one's own, used as a greeting or to finalize an agreement. ∎  a person's particular way of doing this: her handshake was warm and firm. ∎  Comput. an exchange of standardized signals between devices in a computer network regulating the transfer of data.DERIVATIVES: hand·shak·ing / -shāking/ n.

handshake (or handshaking) An exchange of signals that establishes communications between two or more devices. The handshake synchronizes the devices and allows data to be transferred successfully. The signals have various meanings, including

“I am waiting to transmit.”

“I am ready to receive.”

“I am not ready to receive.”

“I am switched on.”

“The data is available.”

“Data has been read successfully.”

See also asynchronous interface.