operatorn.
/ˈɒpəreɪtə/, U.S. /ˈɑpəˌreɪdər/ 1. † b. A person who deals cards at faro. Obsolete. rare.
a. A person (professionally) engaged in performing the practical or mechanical operations of a process, business, etc. Cf. operative n. 3a.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > [noun] > manual worker
workmaneOE
handworker1480
manuary1581
hand labourer1583
manualist1592
operator1598
apron-mana1616
aproneer1659
apron-rogue1664
handler1763
blue-collar1951
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 50 b/2 The Mechanicall operatours, or handyecraftes men.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 165 Culinary operators observe that flesh boyles best, when the bones are boyled with it. View more context for this quotation
1668 R. Boyle in Philos. Trans. 1667 (Royal Soc.) 2 594 This..Trial..you may get reiterated by the Society's Operator.
1683 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 55 Mr. Christopher White, the skilfull and industrious operator of the University.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Archit. Pref. 2 The manual Operator being no more than an Instrument to the Architect.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. III. 133 In calcining this stone over a fire..the operator must take care not to hang his head over the effluvia arising from it.
1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic x. 246 Accompanied by..his own mechanical operator.
1866 A. Crump Pract. Treat. Banking x. 226 The operators [of the Mint] were formed into a corporation by charter of Edward III.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 24 Dec. 9/4 The rescue took place just in time, as the boat heeled over shortly after the men had been taken into the shore boat. The men were operators from Portsmouth.
1936 Discovery Nov. 351/2 Apparatus for radium treatment recently installed at the Hampstead annexe of the Westminster Hospital incorporates a new system of distant control for the better protection of operators.
1968 Encycl. Polymer Sci. & Technol. IX. 26 It is easier for an operator to pick up a preform and place it in a mold cavity or transfer pot than to have to weigh a charge of granular material.
1987 I. Radforth Bushworkers & Bosses vii. 144 The operators proposed that the minimum rates established in the agreement should be the maximums set by the most recent order of the War Labour Board.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > card-sharping or cheating > [noun] > card-sharper
Greek1528
cheaterc1555
packer1586
palmer1671
operator1731
card sharp1840
card-sharper1841
mechanic1897
sharpie1942
card shark2002
1731 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 25/1 The following List of Officers established in the most notorious Gaming-houses... 3. An Operator, who deals the Cards at a cheating Game called Faro.
c. An intelligence operative; a secret-service agent. Cf. operative n. 3b.
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society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > political police > [noun] > secret service agent
secret agenta1715
operative1901
operator1966
station agent1974
1966 J. Porter Sour Cream iii. 36 I'm sure you won't find any snags. She's a most experienced operator.
1977 S. Coulter Soyuz Affair vii. 73 He keeps a close watch on his things... He's a trained operator.
1990 Voice of Arab World 25 Dec. 19 It seemed surprising that satellite pictures, plus on-the-ground information emerging from intelligence operators, remained unheeded.
2. † b. A person who deals in quack medicines, etc. Obsolete.
a. A person who performs a surgical operation or operations; an operating surgeon or dentist.
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the world > health and disease > healing > healer > surgeon > [noun]
chirurgeon1297
surgeonc1330
surgera1400
surgeonrer1483
surgeoner1526
chirurge1535
scarifier1566
scissor man1593
operator1598
man-mendera1625
men-mendera1625
flesh-tailor1633
nim-gimmer1699
sawbones1837
lint-scraper1860
knife-man1961
the world > health and disease > healing > dentistry > [noun] > dentist
tooth-drawer1393
operator1598
dentist1759
dentologist1760
tooth-doctor1767
odontist1819
tooth-puller1839
dental surgeon1840
gum-digger1941
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. *iiij The rigoure and severitye of the first Operatours or Chyrurgians.
1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 436 A rare Oculist, Operator, Stone, or Broke, or Rupture-cutter, &c.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Operatour for the Teeth, one skill'd in drawing and cleansing the Teeth, and in making Artificial ones.
1769 Pennsylvania Gaz. 7 Dec. Mr. Hamilton, Surgeon Dentist, and Operator for the teeth, from London, who cleans and beautifies the teeth, and displaces all superfluous teeth and stumps.
1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflammation 537 There are..cases in which this mortification supervenes..without any fault being attributable to the operator.
1869 J. Ruskin Queen of Air §146 A great operator told me that his hand could check itself within about the two-hundredth of an inch, in penetrating a membrane.
1927 Dict. National Biogr. 1912–21 at Lister, Joseph Syme was..a surgeon of acknowledge eminence.., and at the same time a bold and skilful operator and an inspiring teacher.
1977 Lancet 5 Nov. 962/2 Such women are not good subjects for an experiment with gloveless surgery—especially when the operator has only rudimentary knowledge of bacterial behaviour.
2002 Circulation 106 2346 Technological advances..and increasing operator experience have contributed to lowering the occurrence of major complications.
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the world > health and disease > healing > pharmacy > apothecary or pharmacist > [noun] > dealer in quack medicines
operator1611
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Operateur, an operator, a worker; also, a quacksaluer, cheater, imposter (called so at Tours).
1643 (title) The French mountebank, or an operator fit for these present times.
1674 R. Godfrey Var. Injuries in Physick 10 Such perverse mercurial and antimonial preparations as are made by mercenary operators.
1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Operator,..more particularly it signifies an empyric or mountebank that sells his drugs and his remedies in publick upon a theatre.
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 38 A subtilty of one of those quack-operators, with which he gull'd the poor people.
c. A person who commits fraudulent operations; a thief, a pickpocket.
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the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > defrauder or swindler > [noun]
feature14..
frauderc1475
prowler1519
lurcher1528
defrauder1552
frauditor1553
taker-upc1555
verserc1555
fogger1564
Jack-in-the-box1570
gilenyer1590
foist1591
rutter1591
crossbiter1592
sharker1594
shark1600
bat-fowler1602
cheater1606
foister1610
operator1611
fraudsman1613
projector1615
smoke-sellera1618
decoy1618
firkera1626
scandaroon1631
snapa1640
cunning shaver1652
knight of industrya1658
chouse1658
cheat1664
sharper1681
jockey1683
rooker1683
fool-finder1685
rookster1697
sheep-shearer1699
bubbler1720
gyp1728
bite1742
swindler1770
pigeon1780
mace1781
gouger1790
needle1790
fly-by-night1796
sharp1797
skinner1797
diddler1803
mace cove1811
mace-gloak1819
macer1819
flat-catcher1821
moonlight wanderer1823
burner1838
Peter Funk1840
Funk1842
pigeoner1849
maceman1850
bester1856
fiddler1857
highway robber1874
bunco-steerer1875
swizzler1876
forty1879
flim-flammer1881
chouser1883
take-down1888
highbinder1890
fraud1895
Sam Slick1897
grafter1899
come-on1905
verneuker1905
gypster1917
chiseller1918
tweedler1925
rorter1926
gazumper1932
chizzer1935
sharpie1942
sharpster1942
slick1959
slickster1965
rip-off artist1968
shonky1970
rip-off merchant1971
1611 [see sense 2b].
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub x. 187 He deals in a pernicious kind of writings, called Second Parts,..under the name of the author of the First... As soon as I lay down my pen, this nimble operator will have stole it.
1710 J. Addison Tatler No. 131. ⁋1 There is in this city a certain fraternity of chymical operators... They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of the sloe, and draw Champagne from an apple.
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 127/1 Operators, pickpockets.
1869 Galaxy Sept. 348 The attack having been made is almost certain to be completely successful, and the operators are as sure to escape undetected, with all of the valuables.
1909 W. Irwin Confessions Con Man 23 The operator takes..anilin dye..and marks over all the white figures in the scroll work except one.
1991 A. Campbell Sidewinder i. 11 Sidewinder was certainly a clever operator. He used to show off in front of me, stealing watches and coins from his victims.
3. gen. A person who does or effects something; a worker, an agent; †a maker, creator (obsolete).
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society > occupation and work > worker > [noun]
man1381
workera1382
labourerc1400
piner1497
pair of hands1598
operator1611
operatist1651
operative1809
operant1831
ouvrier1845
scissorbill1910
rehire1927
1611 [see sense 2b].
1632 in S. R. Gardiner Rep. Cases Star Chamber & High Comm. (1886) 173 Mr Deane is falsely accused, the maine operator is Mr Travers.
1696 J. Edwards Demonstr. Existence God ii. ii. 39 So admirably fenced and guarded is this curious piece of workmanship by the celestial operator of it.
a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) X. 21 This is the philosophy of the popish operators in all their religious performances.
1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 Characters 31 He is recorded as operator of all these gaudy works, in a large inscription over the tribune.
a1843 R. Southey Common-place Bk. (1849) 2nd Ser. 75/2 Prince Hohenlohe is the operator in this cure.
1897 H. G. Wells Invisible Man vi. 44 She was the expert and principal operator in this affair.
1905 E. M. Forster Where Angels fear to Tread x. 302 He was a kind as well as a skilful operator.
1961 P. M. Holt Mod. Hist. Sudan i. v. 68 Zubayr ruled in the Bahr al-Ghazal. As the principal operator in this region, he made an agreement with the Rizayqat tribe of Baqqara in southern Darfur to ensure a safe passage for his caravans.
1995 P. Williams Later Tudors ix. v. 380 Carew..was an experienced soldier and a skilful operator in the treacherous ground of Irish politics.
4.
a. A person who carries on (speculative) financial operations. Also: a person adept at speculative or shrewd operations; (formerly) a person who acts in a cunning or underhand manner. Cf. operate v. 9.
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society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares
operator1828
society > occupation and work > worker > worker according to manner of working > [noun] > corrupt or unscrupulous
place-monger1718
jobber1739
jobman1741
seductionist1817
operator1828
careerist1917
ghost payroller1952
cowboy1972
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > [noun] > money-dealer > capitalist or financier > specific
negotiator1682
operator1828
fiscal agent1841
local1969
society > trade and finance > financial dealings > types of money-dealing > [noun] > speculation > speculator
adventurer1466
venturer1530
underwriter1616
entrepreneur1762
speculator1778
speculatist1812
operator1828
entrepreneuse1836
boomster1879
boomer1883
1828 Examiner 138/1 The principal operator for a rise is supposed to be getting rid of his stock.
1875 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 157 An operator in Wall Street, and a professional gambler.
1895 Daily News 30 Dec. 7/5 The market declined early on large receipts, but eventually improved, due to local operators covering.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) x. 382 ‘Big operator, that Jadwin.’ ‘They're doing for him now, though.’
1951 in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 29/2 A smart operator needs a dame like he needs a hole in the head.
1964 A. W. Gouldner in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 209 The whole world may be seen as one of marks and operators.
1985 R. Carver Fires 158 Harry was an operator. That is to say he always had something going.
2002 Econ. Press. Rev. (Nexis) 14 Jan. The main indicator on the Russian stock market..fell by 18%, which seems only to vex optimistical operators.
b. A person with a talent for seduction; a smooth talker.
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1944 Slanguage Dict. Big-time operator, a slick chick's smooth fellow.
1960 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (at cited word) Operator, a charming, socially adroit young man who is popular with the girls; a bold young man with a good line.
1980 Photo-Love Summer Spectacular 7/1 You're quite a smooth operator, what with names and telephone numbers just like that!
2001 New Statesman (Nexis) 30 Apr. A stately widow is revealed as a sharp sexual operator, ensnaring wealthy men with her devastating technique.
5. A person who or company which runs a business, enterprise, etc.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > non-manual worker > businessman > [noun]
man of business1640
homme d'affaires1717
businessman1803
businessperson1834
operator1838
towkay1854
grey suit1969
pinstripe1970
suit1977
pin-striper1979
1838 Niles' Reg. 13 Oct. 112/2 Our trade..is brought nearly to a stand again, by a collision between the dealers, operators and boatmen, as regards the price of freight.
1851 C. Cist Sketches & Statistics Cincinnati 170 The largest operators in this line [manufacturing alcohol], are Lowell Fletcher & Co.
1891 Daily News 9 Feb. 6/4 If the coke-workers in several counties in Pennsylvania carry out their threat to strike work..the operators intend to bank the ovens and stop all production.
1926 Amer. Mercury Mar. 376/1 The seats that once were filled by well-dressed, clean-looking..men and women are now occupied by..sandwich-restaurant operators luxuriating in unaccustomed dinner jackets.
1953 Manch. Guardian Weekly 19 Nov. 9 The State, through a new sort of BBC is to own the new system and will hire it out to commercial ‘operators’.
1977 Offshore Engineer May 42/1 The results of the four wells are being closely studied by the operator Elf Aquitaine and partners ETAP and STEG.
2002 Earth Island Jrnl. (Nexis) 22 Dec. 41 The operators of the Maine Yankee nukeplant recently invested $60 million to build a new fuel-rod storage facility.
6.
a. A person who operates a machine: cf. operate v. 7; spec. a person who works at the switchboard of a telephone exchange. In early use, frequently with a preceding noun.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > [noun] > one who operates machine
minder1692
tender1825
machiner1828
steersman1828
machine-man1834
machine-minder1835
operator1847
runner1848
machine-boy1875
machinist1879
machine operator1887
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > operator
telephone operator1877
telephonist1879
telephone girl1881
hello girl1883
switch-clerk1889
teleoperator1945
trunk1947
operator1972
1847 Commerc. Rev. South & West Nov. 138 Its receipt [was] acknowledged by the Montreal operator in 30 minutes.
1858 E. E. Hale If, Yes & Perhaps (1868) 119 It is not the business simply of ‘operators’ in telegraphic dens to know this Morse alphabet.
1873 J. Richards On Arrangem. Wood-working Factories 103 The following rules..are recommended to operators when they have occasion to determine the angle and bevel of wood cutters.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) iii. 93 Over in the railed-in space, where the hundreds of telegraph instruments were in place, the operators were arriving in twos and threes.
1972 B. F. Conners Don't embarrass Bureau (1973) ii. 201 Operator, I'd like to call person to person to Officer Dolan.
1987 D. Clandfield Canad. Film iv. 63 A series of sketches from the Christmas eve of..a snowplough operator in Montreal.
b. U.S. A person who drives a motor vehicle.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > driver or operator of vehicle > [noun] > driver of motor vehicle > licensed driver
operator1960
1913 N.Y. Times 13 June 13/3 It would be far easier to educate the public, as well as drivers and operators of vehicles, if each city had a standard set of regulations.]
1960 N.Y. Times 23 Nov. 15/7 [The] owner of the car..was given a summons for permitting an unlicensed operator to drive it.
1972 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 24 Oct. 18/6 At the time involved defendant was a resident of the State of New Jersey and the holder of a New Jersey operator's license.
1993 Wired Feb. 88/1 Aamvanet operates an index of every commercial driver in the United States. When an operator applies for a license in one state, the computer determines whether that driver has a license from any other.
7. Originally: (Mathematics) a symbol or group of symbols indicating an operation or series of operations to be carried out, usually on a following expression. Later also: a sign or symbol which effects other types of operation, as logical, phonological, syntactic, etc.
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the mind > language > linguistics > [noun] > symbol indicating linguistic operation
operator1855
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical notation or symbol > [noun] > arithmetic or algebraic symbols
species1688
operand1846
operator1855
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > predicate or propositional logic > [noun] > propositional function > logical operation > sign or symbol
operator1855
propositional connective1938
1855 R. Carmichael Treat. Calculus of Operations 3 The indetermination is due to a source quite independent of the character of the functional operator.
1925 J. M. Bryant & J. A. Correll Alternating-current Circuits iii. 74 The operator, j = √(− 1), turns the vector through 90 degrees in a counterclockwise direction each time it is used.
1952 Eng. & Germanic Stud. 4 12 We may regard Modern English stone as the result of operating with an operator that I shall write {AS. ā > MnE. [ou]} on Anglo-Saxon stān.
1969 V. J. Calderbank Course on Programming in FORTRAN IV iii. 28 The relational expression..has the general form e1re2 where e1 and e2 are arithmetic expressions..being compared by one of the following relational operators, r: .EQ. Equal to (=); .LT. Less than (<); [etc.].
1990 Proc. London Math. Soc. 60 365 The centroid operator and the projection operator are quite different. For example, the centroid operator commutes with linear transformations, while the projection operator does not.
8.
a. In Basic English: an article, particle, preposition, etc., or any of certain words used as substitutes for verbs. Now rare.
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > verb > [noun] > word functioning as verb
verbal1863
operator1929
1929 C. K. Ogden in Psyche 9 iii. 1 The number of necessary names is 400, of qualifiers (adjectives) 100, of operators, particles, etc., 100.
1943 National Geographic Mag. Dec. 700/2 The ‘operators’ include only 16 verbs... They take the place of about 4,000 common verbs in the English tongue. Other ‘operators’ are prepositions (directives, Basic calls them), pronouns, adverbs, etc.
1966 M. Pei Gloss. Ling. Terminol. Operator, one of the verbal forms, prepositions, articles, etc. (about one hundred in number) in Basic English.
b. Linguistics. (a) A form-word or function word (see form n. Compounds 1, function word n. at function n. Compounds); (b) the auxiliary verb in a finite verb phrase which participates in inversion (for questions) and negation (also applied to be, have, and do in certain situations) (now the usual sense).
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the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > [noun] > function word
particle1533
parcel1571
syncategorem1655
agency1778
empty word1854
symbolic1871
form-word1875
structural word1884
particule1889
pheme1906
structure word1925
function word1927
operator1938
logical word1940
keneme1950
rheme1953
functor1958
1938 B. L. Whorf Lang. Thought & Reality (1956) 128 Predication..operators (words specialized for predication, otherwise lexical meaning blank (‘be, become, cause, do’) or vague (‘make, turn, get,’ etc.)). auxiliary verbs.
1957 S. Potter Mod. Linguistics vii. 143 Operators are..forms like articles, prepositions, conjunctions and conjunction adverbs..which perform syntactic functions.
1988 Eng. World-wide 9 175 If there is no operator in the main clause, the dummy auxiliary do is used in the tag.
1991 Jrnl. Semantics 8 391 We need a system of operators which correspond to linguistic devices of aspectual transformation such as the Progressive.
9. Genetics. A regulatory gene which controls the activity of the structural gene(s) of an operon, protein synthesis occurring when it is uncombined with a repressor (or is absent altogether).
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > nucleic acid > DNA > section of
operator1961
satellite1962
junk DNA1963
spacer1963
transposon1974
antisense1977
retroposon1983
retrotransposon1985
retroelement1988
microsatellite1989
1961 Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 26 194/1 The synthesis of messenger RNA is supposed to be a sequential and oriented process which can be initiated only at certain regions, or operators, on the DNA strands.
1973 Nature 16 Nov. 133/1 The sites on DNA to which repressors bind are called operators.
1997 Biochemist Dec. 30/2 I have written a demonstration page..which examines the interactions between the lac repressor (a protein) and the lac operator (a DNA sequence).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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