Why is it called desktop?

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

/ ˈdɛskˌtɒp /

small or compact enough to fit or be used on a desk: a desktop calendar.

Computers.

1. Also called desktop computer . a computer that is not portable, often consisting of a CPU, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.Compare laptop.
2. the primary display screen of a graphical user interface, on which various icons represent files, groups of files, programs, or the like, which can be moved, accessed, added to, put away, or thrown away in ways analogous to the handling of file folders, documents, notes, etc., on a real desk.

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First recorded in 1925–30; desk + top1

• In recent years, the company launched Acrobat on the web, but it was never quite as fully featured as the desktop version, and one capability a lot of users were looking for, editing text and images in PDFs, remained a desktop-only feature.

• You can download the Kindle App for free on your desktop or laptop computer, smart phone or tablet.

• They feature custom wallpaper, system sounds, and desktop icons for My Computer, Recycle Bin, and Network Neighborhood.

• That boxy, black desktop, which cost CERN around $10,000 at the time, has spawned a sprawling and largely unregulated universe.

  World Wide Web Turns 25|Nico Hines|March 12, 2014|DAILY BEAST

• I like to see my desktop covered with face-up yellow pages drying like paintings in the sun.

  Allan Gurganus: How I Write|Noah Charney|October 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST

• Up comes a little box on the desktop from gogoinflight inviting me to follow them out into the cyber universe.

  Errors in the Field|Michael Tomasky|April 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST

• Bob deliberately crossed the room and rested his two fists, knuckle down, on the polished desktop.

  The Rules of the Game|Stewart Edward White

• Suddenly he gasped, and jabbed one of the many buttons that patterned his desktop.

  A Knyght Ther Was|Robert F. Young

• Plug them in and they show up on your desktop like a little hard drive.

  Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town|Cory Doctorow

• “I can build you a desktop out of garbage for twenty bucks,” Kurt said.

  Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town|Cory Doctorow

• The three microcards and the order itself appeared simultaneously on the desktop viewer of the Star Watch personnel officer.

  The Dueling Machine|Benjamin William Bova

the main screen display on a personal computer, from which windows may be opened and programs run

[modifier] denoting a computer system, esp for word processing, that is small enough to use at a desk