Word.ws English Dictionary

Napster

Napster noun: any website that facilitates free distribution of data.

Noun

Napster (plural Napsters)

  1. (Internet) Any website that facilitates free distribution of data.
    • Some in the used-book industry are questioning whether Amazon.com is becoming the Napster of the book business.2004 July 12, “Yukos Offers $8 Billion To Cover Its Tax Bill”, in New York Times
    • It would be easy to call the venture-backed, San Mateo-based YouTube the Napster of video, an outlaw startup rocketing onto dotcom radar screens on the backs of rights-holders. But that's a designation that the year-old company desperately wants to avoid.2007 October 15, “Video Napster?”, in Newsweek

Verb

Napster (third-person singular simple present Napsters, present participle Napstering, simple past and past participle Napstered)

  1. To download from Napster.
    • I have done my part this year by buying fewer albums than in any year since, um, 1982 I think it was. No, I haven't been Napstering them, either. I'm catching up to my backlog of listening, listening to the radio, and most-of-all spending a lot of time with demos of friends' bands, and with the...2001 February 27, grady, “slashdot does the math for the RIAA”, in alt.music.chapel-hill (Usenet)
    • I've got the first four albums on vinyl. Nothing on CD, other than a few "napstered" songs.2006 November 22, Greg Goss, “The grand parade of lifeless packaging”, in alt.fan.cecil-adams (Usenet)
  2. To upload to or as if to Napster.
    • Anyway, I noticed recently that somebody had Napstered the song, and I presume that tapes of the single were floating around long before the internet.2001 April 20, Ttuerff, “How Can You Kiss Me/Just A Little Love”, in alt.music.monkees (Usenet)
    • Google does the "Napstering"-sharing of public and copyrighted materials they take possession of, online. They are pigs, fascists, as that's what fascists do: take all books in the world, for free, and add sponsor links to the public materials.2005 December 22, 19th century nuthouses, “Odd Google Logo Today???”, in 24hoursupport.helpdesk (Usenet)
  3. To shut down, especially for copyright infringement, as Napster was.
    • Don't get me wrong. I am not interested in making that case myself with regard to Debian. On the contrary; I don't want to see Debian get Napstered. Putting obviously infringing stuff onto the mirror network is just begging for trouble. It's not like it's that hard for people to set up their own...2005 May 21, Michael K. Edwards, “Bug#310994: ITP: openttd -- open source clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe"”, in linux.debian.legal (Usenet)
    • If you find Youtube^([sic]) as fascinating as I do you may want to step up the searches & viewing since it seems they may be "napstered" in the future.2006 September 14, James McGrath, “YouTube”, in bit.listserv.blues-l (Usenet)

Examples of Napster in a sentence

  • No, I haven't been Napstering them, either.2001 February 27, grady, “slashdot does the math for the RIAA”, in alt.music.chapel-hill (Usenet):
  • On the contrary; I don't want to see Debian get Napstered.2005 May 21, Michael K. Edwards, “Bug#310994: ITP: openttd -- open source clone of the Microprose game "Transport Tycoon Deluxe"”, in...

Forms of Napster

Noun
pluralNapsters
Verb
third-person singular presentNapsters
present participleNapstering
past participleNapstered
pastNapstered

Origin of Napster

Named after Napster, a file-sharing system (not itself a website) that facilitated the copying of copyrighted MP3 audio files, itself named after a nickname of its creator Shawn Fanning, referring to his nappy-textured hair; hence nap + -ster.

Questions about Napster

What does Napster mean?
Napster means any website that facilitates free distribution of data.
How do you use Napster in a sentence?
No, I haven't been Napstering them, either.
What part of speech is Napster?
Napster can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of Napster?
The plural of Napster is Napsters.

Words near Napster in the dictionary

  1. napsamycin
  2. napsamycins
  3. Napsan
  4. Napsbury
  5. napsin
  6. Napster
  7. Napsterize
  8. Napsters
  9. napsylate
  10. napsylates
  11. NAPT

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Napster (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Napster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/napster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.