operator
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: business
computing
engineering
human-sciences
linguistics
mathematics
mining
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
transport
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin operātor, from operor (“work, labour”). Equivalent to operate + -or.
Base: operate
Affixes: -or
Inflected forms:
form: operators
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The drone crashed because of operator error.
The new bus operator has promised to improve the frequency of rural services.
The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
gloss: A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise assist callers.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: To get an international line, you used to have to go through the operator.
I kept getting "number unobtainable", so I called the operator to find out what was going on.
gloss: A member of a military special operations unit.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A surgeon; one who performs medical operations.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Oh, a very well-known man. He has a great reputation as an operator for peritonitis.
gloss: The game of Chinese whispers.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: A person who is adept at making deals or getting results, especially one who uses questionable methods.
pos: noun
tags: countable
informal
uncountable
examples: Francis Urquhart: I think Lord Billsborough is starting to lose touch a bit.
Tim Stamper: Shame. Used to be a hell of an operator in his day.
gloss: A function or other mapping that carries values defined on a domain into another value or set of values in a defined range.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The administrator of a channel or network on IRC.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A symbol that represents a construct in a programming language and differs from a normal function in its syntax.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A kind of expression that enters into an a-bar movement dependency and is said to bind a variable.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: In the sentence "What did Bill say he wants to buy?", "what" is an operator, binding a phonetically empty variable.
gloss: A bus driver.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The company that operates a mine; often the same one that owns the mine.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A thief or charlatan.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
examples: Sir Ol. Sirrah! I got many a round Sum by it, when my Father wou'd not give me a Groat—Then, Sir, I was in with all the Top Gameſters, and when there was a fat Squire to be fleec'd; I had my Office among them too, and tho' I ſay it, was one of the neateſt Operators about Town.
Hank was saying, "Lyssa showed me the screenshots of Nate's accounts, so we know he's helping himself to Nate's money every month. The guy's a real operator."
gloss: A major criminal.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
examples: He started bleating to me this morning aboot being stretched on this hippy stalk. A fuckin waste of time. Big operators flooding the city with smack and three-quarters of the cunts we bang up are daft schemies or students with a wee bit of hash or a few pills for their pals.
The second thing is that smart operators like Cocky are only in it for the (huge amounts of) money.
gloss: Someone who is successful at pursuing women; a player.
pos: noun
tags: countable
dated
slang
uncountable
examples: I give credit to men who are great operators, as we once called them, with the girls. Once I was interviewing one of the most beautiful girls in the world in her suite at the Hotel Plaza. While she was busily denying to me that there was anything serious in her relationship with Warren Beatty, who should be barging into the next room of the suite with a lot of clothes being removed from another suite, but Warren Beatty?
"Of course you're right, but the Baron is unfortunately a bit of an operator, if you know what I mean. He likes the ladies," said Salvatore with a wicked grin. "So he never gets in until two, sometimes even three in the morning, and that's because he goes dancing at the Mela; he's quite a playboy."
Anyway, there's gonna be plenty of girls. Plenty of girls for an operator like you.
Related words: opera
operable
operand
operant
operate
operation
operational
operative
opus
Derived words: cooperator
eigenoperator
hyperoperator
interoperator
intraoperator
metaoperator
nonoperator
operatorial
operatorless
operatorship
operator theory
operatress
operon
stoperator
superoperator
sysop
teleoperator
Translations:
lang: Belarusian
word: апера́тар
roman: apjerátar
lang: Bulgarian
word: опера́тор
roman: operátor
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 操作者
roman: cāozuòzhě
lang: Cornish
word: oberador
lang: Cornish
word: oberadores
lang: Danish
word: operatør
lang: Dutch
word: bediener
lang: Finnish
word: toimija
lang: Finnish
word: operaattori
lang: Finnish
word: käyttäjä
lang: Finnish
word: koneenkäyttäjä
lang: Finnish
word: kuljettaja
lang: Finnish
word: liikennöitsijä
lang: French
word: opérateur
lang: Galician
word: operador
lang: German
word: Betreiber
lang: Greek
word: χειριστής
roman: cheiristís
lang: Hebrew
word: מפעיל
roman: maf3íl
lang: Hindi
word: संचालक
roman: sañcālak
lang: Hungarian
word: kezelő
lang: Hungarian
word: gépkezelő
lang: Hungarian
word: üzemeltető
lang: Hungarian
word: üzembentartó
lang: Japanese
word: 操作者
roman: sōsasha
lang: Japanese
word: オペレーター
roman: operētā
lang: Korean
word: 조작자
roman: jojakja
lang: Korean
word: 오퍼레이터
roman: opeoreiteo
lang: Macedonian
word: опера́тор
roman: operátor
lang: Polish
word: operator
lang: Portuguese
word: operador
lang: Romanian
word: operator
lang: Russian
word: опера́тор
roman: operátor
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: operater
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: оператер
lang: Spanish
word: operador
lang: Swedish
word: operatör
lang: Turkish
word: operatör
lang: Ukrainian
word: опера́тор
roman: operátor
lang: Bulgarian
word: опера́тор
roman: operátor
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 運算符 /运算符
roman: yùnsùanfú
lang: Chinese Mandarin
word: 算子
roman: suànzǐ
lang: Czech
word: operátor
lang: Danish
word: operator
lang: Esperanto
word: operacio
lang: Finnish
word: operaattori
lang: French
word: opérateur
lang: German
word: Operator
lang: German
word: Rechenzeichen
lang: Greek
word: τελεστής
roman: telestís
lang: Hungarian
word: műveleti jel
lang: Hungarian
word: operátor
lang: Icelandic
word: virki
lang: Italian
word: operatore
lang: Japanese
word: 演算子
roman: enzanshi
lang: Japanese
word: 作用素
roman: sayōso
lang: Kazakh
word: оператор
roman: operator
lang: Persian
word: عملگر
roman: 'amalgar
lang: Persian
word: عملیپتال
lang: Polish
word: operator
lang: Portuguese
word: operador
lang: Romanian
word: operator
lang: Russian
word: опера́тор
roman: operátor
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: operator
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: djelatelj
lang: Spanish
word: operador
lang: Swedish
word: operator
lang: Tagalog
word: pakilos
lang: Turkish
word: operatör
lang: Vietnamese
word: toán tử