What does mangle mean?

Function mangling is a process where some languages, notably C, alter the function's link symbol in order to create unique names for functions with the same name but different parameters. The linker can then distinguish between which function to call by comparing the object code's mangled function calls to the call table. As a simple example, given a function such as int foo(int bar), the function might become managed as _foo@4. Then, when the C compiler finds a call such as foo(4), it will generate a linker call such as "push 4; call _foo@4;".