carrier

plural carriers

1. A person or object that carries someone or something else.

   armored personnel carrier

   1 more example

   The air which is but […] a carrier of the sounds.

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: bearer, -phore, translator

   1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of aircraft carrier.

      Two weeks later, I reported to Pensacola, Florida, for duty aboard CV-48, the USS Saipan, a boxy old carrier the Navy retired from fleet duty and reassigned for use in training.

      1999 March 28, Eugene Cernan, Don Davis, The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space, 1st edition, New York: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 29

      Synonyms: bearer, -phore, translator

   2. broadlyliteratureA starship designed to carry starfighters

      The first carrier completely ignored us, sir! Blew through the Malta’s debris field and headed straight for Earth!

      2004 November 9, Bungie, Halo 2, spoken by Cortana (Jen Taylor), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox, level/area: Cairo Station

      2 more examples

      And each was hideously powerful: an attack carrier could destroy a world, a force of cruisers and spinship destroyers could destroy a sun.

      1990, Dan Simmons, The Fall of Hyperion, 1st edition, New York: Doubleday, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 114

      In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong. It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armor and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier. Alliance carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history.

      2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Starships: Carriers Codex entry

      Synonyms: bearer, -phore, translator

   3. UKabbreviationellipsisEllipsis of carrier bag.

      Synonyms: bearer, -phore, translator

2. A carrier pigeon.
3. A person or company in the business of shipping freight.

   The roads [are] crowded with carriers, laden with rich manufactures.

   1727, Jonathan Swift, A Short View of the State of Ireland

4. A signal such as radio, sound, or light that is modulated to transmit information.
5. communicationsA mobile network operator; wireless carrier.
6. aeronauticsA certified airline.

   Southwest, the nation’s largest domestic carrier, is installing seats with less cushion and thinner materials — a svelte model known in the business as “slim-line.”

   2013 December 22, Jad Mouawad, Martha C. White, New York Times, retrieved 23 Dec 2013

7. That which drives or carries.
   1. engineeringA piece which communicates to an object in a lathe the motion of the faceplate; a lathe dog.
   2. engineeringA spool holder or bobbin holder in a braiding machine.
   3. engineeringA movable piece in magazine guns which transfers the cartridge to a position from which it can be thrust into the barrel.
   4. engineeringA movable piece in a planetary gear train.

      Synonyms: spider, arm

   5. especiallyautomotivePart of a differential gear assembly that holds gears and their bearings.
8. chemistryA catalyst or other intermediary in a chemical reaction.
9. biologyA person or other organism that has a genetic trait, mutation or infection liable to cause a disease, but displays no symptoms.
10. businessA charge carrier.
11. artA liquid or gas used as a medium for another substance.

    inert carrier gas

    1 more example

    Linseed oil is often used as the carrier for pigment in oil painting.

plural Carriers

1. countableuncountableA Northern Athabaskan language spoken in Canada. Sometimes considered to be three separate languages: Southern Carrier, Northern Carrier and Central Carrier.
2. countableuncountableA surname.
3. countableuncountableA small town in Garfield County, Oklahoma, United States; from the surname.

plural Carriers

1. Synonym of English Carrier.

   Synonyms: English Carrier