[car.ri.er] n (14c) 1: one that carries: bearer, messenger
2. a: an individual or organization engaged in transporting passengers or goods for hire b: a transportation line carrying mail between post offices c: a postal employee who delivers or collects mail d: one that delivers newspapers e: an entity (as a hole or an electron) capable of carrying an electric charge 3 a: a container for carrying b: a device or machine that carries: conveyer
4: aircraft carrier
5. a: a bearer and transmitter of a causative agent of an infectious disease; esp: one who carries the causative agent of a disease (as typhoid fever) systemically but is immune to it b: an individual (as one heterozygous for a recessive) having a specified gene that is not expressed or only weakly expressed in its phenotype
6. a: a usu. inactive accessory substance: vehicle "a ~ for a drug or an insecticide" b: a substance (as a catalyst) by whose agency some element or group is transferred from one compound to another
7. a: an electromagnetic wave or alternating current whose modulations are used as signals in radio, telephonic, or telegraphic transmission b: a telecommunication company 8: an organization acting as an insurer