Spy's secret (4 letters)

{ Answer }

CODE

{ Related Clues }

Area ___
Bar ___
Binary ___
+Building ___
Commercial ___
___ of honor
___ of laws
Morse, for one
Penal ___
___ red
Zip, for one
Area or Morse
Body of laws
Building regulations
The "C" in U.P.C.
Cipher or encipher
Cryptographer's secret
Disguise the meaning
Morse or zip
Programmer's work
Programmers' writing
Safety specifications
Secret language
Secret message
Set of principles
Set of rules
Software basis
Zip or area
Bottom numbers on an envelope
Do programming work
Penal or zip follower
Pig Latin, e.g.
Semaphore signals, e.g.
Spy's writing, perhaps
Start for "of honor" or "of silence"
Word with bar or color
Zip or area follower
Do some computer programming
It may be cracked
It may be genetic
Word preceding various colors
Feature of Doyle's "The Adventure of the Dancing Men"
One if by land, two if by sea, etc.

{ Tags }

area, be, body, building, code, it, laws, may, message, morse, principles, programmers, rules, secret, set, spys, standards, word, work, writing, zip

{ Notes }

The answer CODE is seen frequently, appearing about once every 190 puzzles.

{ Definition }

CODE as a noun:

1. (code, codification) = a set of rules or principles or laws (especially written ones)

2. a coding system used for transmitting messages requiring brevity or secrecy

3. (code, computer code) = (computer science) the symbolic arrangement of data or instructions in a computer program or the set of such instructions

CODE as a verb:

1. attach a code to; "Code the pieces with numbers so that you can identify them later"

2. (encode, code, encipher, cipher, cypher, encrypt, inscribe, write in code) = convert ordinary language into code; "We should encode the message for security reasons"