operator

[op-uh-rey-ter] /ˈɒp əˌreɪ tər/
noun
1.
a person who operates a machine, apparatus, or the like:
a telegraph operator.
2.
a person who operates a telephone switchboard, especially for a telephone company.
3.
a person who manages a working or industrial establishment, enterprise, or system:
the operators of a mine.
4.
a person who trades in securities, especially speculatively or on a large scale.
5.
a person who performs a surgical operation; a surgeon.
6.
Mathematics.
  1. a symbol for expressing a mathematical operation.
  2. a function, especially one transforming a function, set, etc., into another:
    a differential operator.
7.
Informal.
  1. a person who accomplishes his or her purposes by devious means; faker; fraud.
  2. a person who is adroit at overcoming, avoiding, or evading difficulties, regulations, or restrictions.
  3. a person who is extremely successful with or smoothly persuasive to members of the opposite sex.
8.
Genetics. a segment of DNA that interacts with a regulatory molecule, preventing transcription of the adjacent region.
Origin
1590-1600; < Late Latin, equivalent to operā(rī) to work, effect (see operate) + Latin -tor -tor
Related forms
preoperator, noun
self-operator, noun
Examples from the web for operator
  • Instead, he is a political operator who has made a fortune in property.
  • And her research shows that the more utilitarian a robot looks, the more likely its operator is to self-extend into the machine.
  • The operator on the left side of the real formula is a multiplication symbol, not a division line.
  • Therefore being valued as faculty may also include who can be the biggest operator con-artist in the nanny-state.
  • If the operator of a for-profit does that, he or she will get fired.
  • The operator sits in a conning tower in the top of the car.
  • Once in the twenties a beauty parlor operator had bleached her hair.
  • They had delivered a check to a bulldozer operator who was digging a ditch.
  • Clicking on a button in the box enabled users to send a message directly to their local cable operator.
  • There will be a door in the model to permit an operator to crawl inside.
British Dictionary definitions for operator

operator

/ˈɒpəˌreɪtə/
noun
1.
a person who operates a machine, instrument, etc, esp, a person who makes connections on a telephone switchboard or at an exchange
2.
a person who owns or operates an industrial or commercial establishment
3.
a speculator, esp one who operates on currency or stock markets
4.
(informal) a person who manipulates affairs and other people
5.
(maths) any symbol, term, letter, etc, used to indicate or express a specific operation or process, such as Δ (the differential operator)
Word Origin and History for operator
n.

1590s, "one who performs mechanical or surgical operations," agent noun from operate (v.) or from Late Latin operator. Meaning "one who carries on business shrewdly" is from 1828. Specific sense of "one who works a telephone switchboard" (1884) grew out of earlier meaning "one who works a telegraph" (1847).

operator in Medicine

operator op·er·a·tor (ŏp'ə-rā'tər)
n.
An operator gene.

operator in Science
operator
  (ŏp'ə-rā'tər)   

  1. Mathematics A function, especially one from a set to itself, such as differentiation of a differentiable function or rotation of a vector. In quantum mechanics, measurable quantities of a physical system, such as position and momentum, are related to unique operators applied to the wave equation describing the system.

  2. A logical operator.

  3. Genetics A segment of chromosomal DNA that regulates the activity of the structural genes of an operon by interacting with a specific repressor.


Slang definitions & phrases for operator

operator

noun
  1. A person who busily deals and manipulates, often self-importantly; dealer, wheeler-dealer (1875+)
  2. ladies' man (1950s+)

operator in Technology

programming
A symbol used as a function, with infix syntax if it has two arguments (e.g. "+") or prefix syntax if it has only one (e.g. Boolean NOT). Many languages use operators for built-in functions such as arithmetic and logic.
(1995-04-30)

Encyclopedia Article for operator

in mathematics, any symbol that indicates an operation to be performed. Examples are x (which indicates the square root is to be taken) and ddx (which indicates differentiation with respect to x is to be performed). An operator may be regarded as a function, transformation, or map, in the sense that it associates or "maps" elements from one set to elements from another set. See also automorphism.

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