A "compiler" translates code from one form to another, and while historically that other form is machine code, ther's no requirement that this is the case: Java translates to JVM bytecode.
People get upset when told Ruby is a "compiled" language, as technically the code is compiled into bytecode, because overall this is in the context of an interpreted language. Things do get blurry when it boils down to JVM bytecode in JRuby, which then goes on to have a JIT pass done on it...
Even the CPU itself "compiles" the incoming instructions into internal ops. It's translating code into code.
