[vec.tor] n [NL, fr. L, carrier, fr. vehere to carry--more at way] (1846) 1 a: a quantity that has magnitude and direction and that is commonly represented by a directed line segment whose length represents the magnitude and whose orientation in space represents the direction; broadly: an element of a vector space b: a course or compass direction esp. of an airplane
2. a: an organism (as an insect) that transmits a pathogen b: pollinator a
3: a sequence of genetic material (as a transposon or the genome of a bacteriophage) used to introduce specific genes into the genome of an organism -- vector adj -- vec.to.ri.al adj -- vec.to.ri.al.ly adv
[2]vector vt vec.tored ; vec.tor.ing (1941) 1: to guide (as an airplane, its pilot, or a missile) in flight by means of a radioed vector
2: to change the direction of (the thrust of a jet engine) for steering