vector

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Mathematics A quantity, such as velocity, completely specified by a magnitude and a direction.
2. n. Mathematics A one-dimensional array.
3. n. Mathematics An element of a vector space.
4. n. Pathology An organism, such as a mosquito or tick, that carries disease-causing microorganisms from one host to another.
5. n. Genetics A bacteriophage, plasmid, or other agent that transfers genetic material from one cell to another.
6. n. A force or influence.
7. n. A course or direction, as of an airplane.
8. v. To guide (a pilot or aircraft, for example) by means of radio communication according to vectors.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In quaternions, a quantity which, being added to any point of space, gives as the sum that point which is at a certain distance in a certain direction from the first. Vectors are said to be equal when their directions and magnitudes are the same. Unit vectors in quaternions are considered as equivalent to quadrantal versors having their axes in the directions of vectors; the word vector has accordingly sometimes, but incorrectly, been used in the sense of a quadrantal versor. Every quaternion can be resolved in one way, and one way only, into a sum of a scalar and a vector; and this vector is called the vector of the quaternion, and is denoted by writing V before the sign of the quaternion. Thus, Vq denotes the vector of the quaternion q.
2. n. Hence— A directive quantity; a quantity determined by two numbers giving its direction and a third giving its magnitude.
3. n. Same as radius vector. See radius.
4. Of the nature of or concerned with vectors.

Wiktionary

1. n. mathematics A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
2. n. mathematics An ordered tuple representing a directed quantity or the signed difference between two points.
3. n. mathematics Any member of a (generalized) vector space.
4. n. aviation A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
5. n. epidemiology A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
6. n. sociology A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.
7. n. psychology A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.
8. n. The way in which the eyes are drawn across the visual text. The trail that a book cover can encourage the eyes to follow from certain objects to others.
9. n. computing, operating systems A memory address containing the address of a code entry point, usually one which is part of a table and often one that is dereferenced and jumped to during the execution of an interrupt.
10. n. programming A one-dimensional array.
11. v. To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Same as radius vector.
2. n. (Math.) A directed quantity, as a straight line, a force, or a velocity. Vectors are said to be equal when their directions are the same and their magnitudes equal. Cf. Scalar.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a straight line segment whose length is magnitude and whose orientation in space is direction
2. n. (genetics) a virus or other agent that is used to deliver DNA to a cell
3. n. any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries and transmits a disease
4. n. a variable quantity that can be resolved into components