em·u·late Audio pronunciation of emulate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (my-lt)
tr.v. em·u·lat·ed, em·u·lat·ing, em·u·lates
1. To strive to equal or excel, especially through imitation: an older pupil whose accomplishments and style I emulated.
2. To compete with successfully; approach or attain equality with.
3. Computer Science. To imitate the function of (another system), as by modifications to hardware or software that allow the imitating system to accept the same data, execute the same programs, and achieve the same results as the imitated system.
I told the intern, who is Taiwanese (and, more importantly, went to school in Taiwan, not US), that what she needed to emulate was the code in memory.cc. I, of course, used it in the computer science sense listed above, to imitate the function of another system. She, however, looked it up in her personal dictionary and found a definition which emphasized the "attain equality with" aspects of the definition in a way I can only imagine and thought I was telling her she needed to get way, way better.