carrier

[ kar-ee-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that carries.
2. an employee of the post office who carries mail.
3. a person who delivers newspapers, magazines, etc., on a particular route.
4. Transportation.
   1. an individual or company, as a railroad or steamship line, engaged in transporting passengers or goods for profit.
   2. common carrier.
5. Insurance. a company that acts or functions as an underwriter or insurer.
6. a frame, usually of metal, attached to a vehicle for carrying skis, luggage, etc., as on top of an automobile or station wagon; rack.
7. aircraft carrier.
8. Immunology. an individual harboring specific pathogenic organisms who, though often immune to the agent harbored, may transmit the disease to others.
9. Genetics.
   1. an individual possessing an unexpressed, recessive trait.
   2. the bearer of a defective gene.
10. Also called carrier wave. Radio. the wave whose amplitude, frequency, or phase is to be varied or modulated to transmit a signal.
11. Machinery. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved.
12. Chemistry. a catalytic agent that brings about a transfer of an element or group of atoms from one compound to another.
13. Also called charge carrier. Physics. any of the mobile electrons or holes in a metal or semiconductor that enable it to conduct electrical charge.
14. Physical Chemistry. a usually inactive substance that acts as a vehicle for an active substance.
15. carrier pigeon.
16. Painting. base ¹( def 16b ).

carrier

¹

/ ˈkærɪə /

noun

1. a person, thing, or organization employed to carry goods, passengers, etc
2. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved, such as a device for transmitting rotation from the faceplate of a lathe to the workpiece
3. See vector
   pathol another name for vector
4. pathol a person or animal that, without having any symptoms of a disease, is capable of transmitting it to others
5. Also calledcharge carrier physics an electron, ion, or hole that carries the charge in a conductor or semiconductor
6. See carrier wave
   short for carrier wave
7. chem
   1. the inert solid on which a dyestuff is adsorbed in forming a lake
   2. a substance, such as kieselguhr or asbestos, used to support a catalyst
   3. an inactive substance containing a radioisotope used in radioactive tracing
   4. an inert gas used to transport the sample through a gas-chromatography column
   5. a catalyst that effects the transfer of an atom or group from one molecule to another
8. See aircraft carrier
   See aircraft carrier
9. See carrier pigeon
   a breed of domestic fancy pigeon having a large walnut-shaped wattle over the beak; a distinct variety of pigeon from the homing or carrier pigeon See also carrier pigeon
10. See roof rack
    a US name for roof rack

Carrier

²

/ ˈkærɪə /

noun

1. a member of an Athapaskan Native North American people of British Columbia

carrier

/ kăr′ē-ər /

1. A person, animal, or plant that serves as a host for a pathogen and can transmit it to others, but is immune to it. Mosquitoes are carriers of malaria.
2. An organism that carries a gene for a trait but does not show the trait itself. Carriers can produce offspring that express the trait by mating with another carrier of the same gene.
3. See more at recessive

Other Words From

• in·ter·car·ri·er noun
• non·car·ri·er noun
• su·per·car·ri·er noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of carrier¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; carry, -er ¹

Example Sentences

The vaccine is delivered through a “carrier virus” that causes a common cold in chimpanzees but does not affect humans.

From The Daily Beast

The airplane was owned by an Indonesian budget carrier, Lion Air.

From The Daily Beast

Riffing off the slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly,” the carrier offered no-frills flights that were both cheap and plentiful.

From The Daily Beast

AirAsia, on the other hand, is a relatively new carrier, an upstart in the tradition of Southwest Airlines in the United States.

From The Daily Beast

The NYPD remained his ultimate goal as he went to work as a carrier for Airborne Express/DHL and then as a school safety officer.

From The Daily Beast

She repeated the brief phrases, as well as she could recall them, to a Eurasian whom she found acting as a water-carrier.

From Project Gutenberg

And the same goes for any other common carrier—the railroads, bus service, and airlines.

From Project Gutenberg

Louis the Goon Engel was a mere walk-on in the piece, a spear-carrier doomed to death.

From Project Gutenberg

Instead of being a destroyer of merchandise, this new craft was an unarmed carrier of merchandise.

From Project Gutenberg

But it's all right now—they'll throw the letters into the mail-carrier's bag—there'll be many of them—this is general letter day.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• aircraft carrier
• warship