[op.er.a.tor] n (1611) 1: one that operates: as a: one that operates a machine or device b: one that operates a business c: one that performs surgical operations d: one that deals in stocks or commodities
2. a: mountebank, fraud b: a shrewd and skillful person who knows how to circumvent restrictions or difficulties 3 a: something and esp. a symbol that denotes or performs a mathematical or logical operation b: a mathematical function
4: a binding site in a DNA chain at which a genetic repressor binds to inhibit the initiation of transcription of messenger RNA by one or more nearby structural genes--called also operator gene--compare operon -- op.er.a.tor.less adj