carrier

[ kar-ee-er ]

/ ˈkær i ər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR carrier ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person or thing that carries.

an employee of the post office who carries mail.

a person who delivers newspapers, magazines, etc., on a particular route.

Transportation.

an individual or company, as a railroad or steamship line, engaged in transporting passengers or goods for profit.
common carrier.

Insurance. a company that acts or functions as an underwriter or insurer.

a frame, usually of metal, attached to a vehicle for carrying skis, luggage, etc., as on top of an automobile or station wagon; rack.

aircraft carrier.

Immunology. an individual harboring specific pathogenic organisms who, though often immune to the agent harbored, may transmit the disease to others.

Genetics.

an individual possessing an unexpressed, recessive trait.
the bearer of a defective gene.

Also called carrier wave. Radio. the wave whose amplitude, frequency, or phase is to be varied or modulated to transmit a signal.

Machinery. a mechanism by which something is carried or moved.

Chemistry. a catalytic agent that brings about a transfer of an element or group of atoms from one compound to another.

Also called charge carrier. Physics. any of the mobile electrons or holes in a metal or semiconductor that enable it to conduct electrical charge.

Physical Chemistry. a usually inactive substance that acts as a vehicle for an active substance.

carrier pigeon.

Painting. base¹(def 15b).

Nearby words

carrick bitt, carrickfergus, carrie, carried away, carried interest, carrier, carrier bag, carrier pigeon, carrier screening, carrier wave, carrier-free

Origin of carrier

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at carry, -er¹

Related forms

in·ter·car·ri·er, nounnon·car·ri·er, nounsu·per·car·ri·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for carrier

The vaccine is delivered through a “carrier virus” that causes a common cold in chimpanzees but does not affect humans.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine|Abby Haglage|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Riffing off the slogan “Now Everyone Can Fly,” the carrier offered no-frills flights that were both cheap and plentiful.
The Presumed Crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Is Nothing Like MH370|Lennox Samuels|December 29, 2014|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.
In The Shadow of Murdered Cops|Michael Daly|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When she tried to explain to him that he himself could be a carrier, he “willfully ignored what [she] said.”
The Silent Shame of HPV|Emily Shire|August 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST

American carrier Delta is suspending flights to Monrovia on August 31.
Ebola-Fueled Racism Is on the Rise in Europe|Barbie Latza Nadeau|August 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Some three weeks later a carrier came to me with a note—a penciled scrawl upon a torn piece of paper.
The Spinner's Book of Fiction|Various
Page 115: Rab remained in statu quo till the carrier returned; love and devotion filled his heart.
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10|Charles Herbert Sylvester
Then, Boxer gave occasion to more good-natured recognitions of and by the Carrier, than half a dozen Christians could have done!
The Cricket on the Hearth|Charles Dickens
The ordinary camera may be used, but a carrier to take lantern plates must be used in the dark slide.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 1082, September 26, 1896|Various
Some thought that Phil Martin the carrier would see her if anybody would.
An Unsocial Socialist|George Bernard Shaw

British Dictionary definitions for carrier (1 of 2)

carrier

/ (ˈkærɪə) /

noun

a person, thing, or organization employed to carry goods, passengers, etc

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

pathol another name for vector (def. 3)

pathol a person or animal that, without having any symptoms of a disease, is capable of transmitting it to others

Also called: charge carrier physics an electron, ion, or hole that carries the charge in a conductor or semiconductor

short for carrier wave

chem

the inert solid on which a dyestuff is adsorbed in forming a lake
a substance, such as kieselguhr or asbestos, used to support a catalyst
an inactive substance containing a radioisotope used in radioactive tracing
an inert gas used to transport the sample through a gas-chromatography column
a catalyst that effects the transfer of an atom or group from one molecule to another

See aircraft carrier

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 pigeonSee also carrier pigeon

a US name for roof rack

British Dictionary definitions for carrier (2 of 2)

Carrier

/ (ˈkærɪə) /

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for carrier

carrier

[ kăr′ē-ər ]

n.

A person or an animal that shows no symptoms of a disease but harbors the infectious agent of that disease and is capable of transmitting it to others.

A compound capable of transferring a hydrogen atom from one compound to another.

A quantity of naturally occurring element added to a minute amount of pure isotope, especially a radioactive one, to facilitate the chemical handling of the isotope.

An individual that carries, but does not express, a gene for a particular recessive trait, yet when mated with another carrier, can produce offspring that do.

Science definitions for carrier

carrier

[ kăr′ē-ər ]

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.

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. See more at recessive.