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Operator

//ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə// noun, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person or organisation that operates a device, system, service, etc. countable, uncountable

    "The drone crashed because of operator error."

  2. 2
    a shrewd or unscrupulous person who knows how to circumvent difficulties wordnet
  3. 3
    A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to connect or otherwise assist callers. countable, uncountable

    "To get an international line, you used to have to go through the operator."

  4. 4
    an agent that operates some apparatus or machine wordnet
  5. 5
    A member of a military special operations unit. countable, uncountable
Show 14 more definitions
  1. 6
    someone who owns or operates a business wordnet
  2. 7
    The game of Chinese whispers. uncountable
  3. 8
    a speculator who trades aggressively on stock or commodity markets wordnet
  4. 9
    A person who is adept at making deals or getting results, especially one who uses questionable methods. countable, informal, uncountable

    "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."

  5. 10
    (mathematics) a symbol or function representing a mathematical operation wordnet
  6. 11
    A function or other mapping that carries values defined on a domain into another value or set of values in a defined range. countable, uncountable
  7. 12
    The administrator of a channel or network on IRC. countable, uncountable
  8. 13
    A symbol that represents a construct in a programming language and differs from a normal function in its syntax. countable, uncountable
  9. 14
    A kind of expression that enters into an a-bar movement dependency and is said to bind a variable. countable, uncountable

    "In the sentence "What did Bill say he wants to buy?", "what" is an operator, binding a phonetically empty variable."

  10. 15
    A bus driver. countable, uncountable
  11. 16
    The company that operates a mine; often the same one that owns the mine. countable, uncountable
  12. 17
    A thief or charlatan. countable, slang, uncountable

    "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."

  13. 18
    A major criminal. countable, slang, uncountable

    "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."

  14. 19
    Someone who is successful at pursuing women; a player. countable, dated, slang, uncountable

    "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?"

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin operātor, from operor (“work, labour”). Equivalent to operate + -or.

See also for "operator"

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