Search Result for "vector": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (4)

1. a variable quantity that can be resolved into components;

2. a straight line segment whose length is magnitude and whose orientation in space is direction;

3. any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits a disease;
- Example: "mosquitos are vectors of malaria and yellow fever"
- Example: "fleas are vectors of the plague"
- Example: "aphids are transmitters of plant diseases"
- Example: "when medical scientists talk about vectors they are usually talking about insects"
[syn: vector, transmitter]

4. (genetics) a virus or other agent that is used to deliver DNA to a cell;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Vector \Vec"tor\, n. [L., a bearer, carrier. fr. vehere, vectum, to carry.] 1. Same as Radius vector. [1913 Webster] 2. (Math.) A directed quantity, as a straight line, a force, or a velocity. Vectors are said to be equal when their directions are the same and their magnitudes equal. Cf. Scalar. [1913 Webster] Note: In a triangle, either side is the vector sum of the other two sides taken in proper order; the process finding the vector sum of two or more vectors is vector addition (see under Addition). [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

vector n 1: a variable quantity that can be resolved into components 2: a straight line segment whose length is magnitude and whose orientation in space is direction 3: any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits a disease; "mosquitos are vectors of malaria and yellow fever"; "fleas are vectors of the plague"; "aphids are transmitters of plant diseases"; "when medical scientists talk about vectors they are usually talking about insects" [syn: vector, transmitter] 4: (genetics) a virus or other agent that is used to deliver DNA to a cell
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

66 Moby Thesaurus words for "vector": aerial infection, air line, airborne infection, axis, azimuth, beeline, biological vector, carrier, chord, communicability, compass bearing, compass direction, contagion, contagiousness, contamination, course, cryptogenic infection, diagonal, diameter, direct infection, direct line, directrix, droplet infection, dust infection, edge, epidemiology, great-circle course, hand infection, heading, indirect infection, infection, infectiousness, lee side, magnetic bearing, mechanical vector, normal, perpendicular, phytogenic infection, primary infection, pyogenic infection, radius, radius vector, relative bearing, right line, secant, secondary infection, segment, shortcut, side, straight, straight course, straight line, straight stretch, straightaway, streamline, subclinical infection, tack, taint, tangent, transversal, true bearing, vehicle, virus, waterborne infection, weather side, zoogenic infection
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

vector 1. A member of a vector space. 2. A line or movement defined by its end points, or by the current position and one other point. See vector graphics. 3. A memory location containing the address of some code, often some kind of exception handler or other operating system service. By changing the vector to point to a different piece of code it is possible to modify the behaviour of the operating system. Compare hook. 4. A one-dimensional array. (1996-09-30)