catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  dynamic scope
       
           In a dynamically scoped language, e.g. most
          versions of Lisp, an identifier can be referred to, not
          only in the block where it is declared, but also in any
          function or procedure called from within that block, even if
          the called procedure is declared outside the block.
       
          This can be implemented as a simple stack of (identifier,
          value) pairs, accessed by searching down from the top of stack
          for the most recent instance of a given identifier.
       
          The opposite is lexical scope.  A common implementation of
          dynamic scope is shallow binding.
       
          (1996-07-11)