FACTOR

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French facteur, from Latin ~ doer, from facere Date: 15th century one who acts or transacts business for another: as, broker 1b, one that lends money to producers and dealers (as on the security of accounts receivable), 2. a. one that actively contributes to the production of a result ; ingredient , a substance that functions in or promotes the function of a particular physiological process or bodily system, a good or service used in the process of production, gene , 4. any of the numbers or symbols in mathematics that when multiplied together form a product, a quantity by which a given quantity is multiplied or divided in order to indicate a difference in measurement , ~ship noun II. verb (~ed; ~ing) Date: 1621 intransitive verb to work as a ~, transitive verb to resolve into ~s, 2. to include or admit as a ~, to exclude as a ~, ~able adjective