I. ˈvek-tər noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin, carrier, from vehere to carry — more at way
Date: 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 especially of an airplane
2.
a. : an organism (as an insect) that transmits a pathogen
b. : pollinator a
3. : an agent (as a plasmid or virus) that contains or carries modified genetic material (as recombinant DNA) and can be used to introduce exogenous genes into the genome of an organism
• vector adjective
• vec·to·ri·al vek-ˈtȯr-ē-əl adjective
• vec·to·ri·al·ly -ə-lē adverb
II. transitive verb
( vec·tored ; vec·tor·ing -t(ə-)riŋ)
Date: 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