Operator

[op-uh-rey-ter] /ˈɒp əˌreɪ tər/

noun
1.
a person who operates a machine, apparatus, or the like:
a telegraph operator.
2.
a person who operates a telephone switchboard, especially for a telephone company.
3.
a person who manages a working or industrial establishment, enterprise, or system:
the operators of a mine.
4.
a person who trades in securities, especially speculatively or on a large scale.
5.
a person who performs a surgical operation; a surgeon.
6.
Mathematics.

7.
Informal.

8.
Genetics. a segment of DNA that interacts with a regulatory molecule, preventing transcription of the adjacent region.
/ˈɒpəˌreɪtə/
noun
1.
a person who operates a machine, instrument, etc, esp, a person who makes connections on a telephone switchboard or at an exchange
2.
a person who owns or operates an industrial or commercial establishment
3.
a speculator, esp one who operates on currency or stock markets
4.
(informal) a person who manipulates affairs and other people
5.
(maths) any symbol, term, letter, etc, used to indicate or express a specific operation or process, such as Δ (the differential operator)
n.

1590s, “one who performs mechanical or surgical operations,” agent noun from operate (v.) or from Late Latin operator. Meaning “one who carries on business shrewdly” is from 1828. Specific sense of “one who works a telephone switchboard” (1884) grew out of earlier meaning “one who works a telegraph” (1847).

operator op·er·a·tor (ŏp’ə-rā’tər)
n.
An operator gene.
operator
(ŏp’ə-rā’tər)

noun

programming
A symbol used as a function, with infix syntax if it has two arguments (e.g. “+”) or prefix syntax if it has only one (e.g. Boolean NOT). Many languages use operators for built-in functions such as arithmetic and logic.
(1995-04-30)