CARRIER


Meaning of CARRIER in English

/kar"ee euhr/ , n.

1. a person or thing that carries.

2. an employee of the post office who carries mail.

3. a person who delivers newspapers, magazines, etc., on a particular route.

4. Transp.

a. an individual or company, as a railroad or steamship line, engaged in transporting passengers or goods for profit.

b. See common carrier .

5. Insurance. a company that acts or functions as an underwriter or insurer.

6. a frame, usually of metal, attached to a vehicle for carrying skis, luggage, etc., as on top of an automobile or station wagon; rack.

7. See aircraft carrier .

8. Immunol. an individual harboring specific pathogenic organisms who, though often immune to the agent harbored, may transmit the disease to others.

9. Genetics.

a. an individual possessing an unexpressed, recessive trait.

b. the bearer of a defective gene.

10. Also called carrier wave . Radio. the wave whose amplitude, frequency, or phase is to be varied or modulated to transmit a signal.

11. Mach. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved.

12. Chem. a catalytic agent that brings about a transfer of an element or group of atoms from one compound to another.

13. Also called charge carrier . Physics. any of the mobile electrons or holes in a metal or semiconductor that enable it to conduct electrical charge.

14. Physical Chem. a usually inactive substance that acts as a vehicle for an active substance.

15. See carrier pigeon .

16. Painting. base 1 (def. 15b).

[ 1350-1400; ME; see CARRY, -ER 1 ]

Random House Webster's Unabridged English dictionary.      Полный английский словарь Вебстер - Random House .