All 8 Uses of

cipher
in
The Gold-Bug

These characters, as any one might readily guess, form a cipher—that is to say, they convey a meaning; but then, from what is known of Kidd, I could not suppose him capable of constructing any of the more abstruse cryptographs.†

In the present case—indeed in all cases of secret writing—the first question regards the language of the cipher; for the principles of solution, so far, especially, as the more simple ciphers are concerned, depend upon, and are varied by, the genius of the particular idiom.†

In the present case—indeed in all cases of secret writing—the first question regards the language of the cipher; for the principles of solution, so far, especially, as the more simple ciphers are concerned, depend upon, and are varied by, the genius of the particular idiom.†

But, with the cipher now before us, all difficulty was removed by the signature.†

The general use which may be made of the table is obvious—but, in this particular cipher, we shall only very partially require its aid.†

Let us refer, for example, to the last instance but one, in which the combination;48 occurs—not far from the end of the cipher.†

Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combinations of known characters, we find, not very far from the beginning, this arrangement, 83(88, or egree, which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word 'degree,' and gives us another letter, d, represented by †.†

I have said enough to convince you that ciphers of this nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into the rationale of their development.†
*

Definitions:

(1) (cipher as in: a secret cipher)
to write a message in a secret code; or such a message; or a substitution table or other system used to encode and decode such a message
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

At one time, cipher frequently referenced the act of doing mathematical calculations or a person capable of such calculations.

A cipher can also refer to a person without power or influence. It can also refer to the mathematical digit, zero.

A comprehensive dictionary will describe other less common senses of cipher.