6.11.5 Colon Definitions ¶

: name ( ... -- ... )
    word1 word2 word3 ;

Creates a word called name that, upon execution, executes word1 word2 word3. name is a (colon) definition.

The explanation above is somewhat superficial. For simple examples of colon definitions see Your first Forth definition. For an in-depth discussion of some of the issues involved, See Interpretation and Compilation Semantics.

: ( "name" – colon-sys  ) core “colon”

; ( compilation colon-sys – ; run-time nest-sys –  ) core “semicolon”