Wiktionary

vector

English

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WOTD – 3 June 2006
 
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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“I carry, I transport, I bear”), also ultimately the root of English vehicle.

The “person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme” sense derives from the disease sense.

The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vector (plural vectors)

  2. (mathematics, physics) A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
    Hypernym: tensor
    Velocity is a vector defined by the speed of an object and its direction.
    • 1914, The New Student's Reference Work:
      As examples of vector quantities may be mentioned the distance between any two given points, a velocity, a force, an acceleration, angular velocity, intensity of magnetization flux of heat.
  3. (mathematics, computing) An ordered tuple, originally one representing a directed quantity, but by extension any one-dimensional matrix.
    Hypernym: matrix
    Computers store many types of data as vectors for ease of processing.
    • 2003 February 26, Julio Sanchez, Maria P. Canton, The PC Graphics Handbook, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 62:
      A row vector is a matrix whose M dimension is 1. In fact, a row vector is a matrix consisting of a single row, and a column vector a matrix consisting of a single column.
    • 2011 March 8, Lee Lanier, Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 97:
      Color is stored as a vector attribute (R, G, B).
    • 2022 February 9, Gerassimos Barlas, Multicore and GPU Programming: An Integrated Approach, Morgan Kaufmann, →ISBN, page 398:
      GPU cores are essentially vector-processing units, capable of applying the same instruction on a large collection of operands.
  4. (mathematics) Any member of a (generalized) vector space.
    The vectors in   are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is  .
  5. (aviation) A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
    • 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32:
      I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast.
  7. (epidemiology) A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
  8. (sociology) A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.
    • 2020 October 12, Andrew Marantz, “Why Facebook Can’t Fix Itself”, in The New Yorker‎[1]:
      These days, their primary job is to insist that Facebook is a fun place to share baby photos and sell old couches, not a vector for hate speech, misinformation, and violent extremist propaganda.
  9. (psychology) A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.
  10. 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.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
  11. (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.
  12. (programming) A kind of dynamically resizable array.
    • 2004, Jesse Liberty, Bradley L. Jones, Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, page 694:
      To create a vector of students in a class, you will want the vector to be large enough […]
  13. (computer graphics, attributive) A graphical representation using outlines; vector graphics.
    Coordinate term: raster
    a vector image, vector graphics
  14. (molecular biology) A DNA molecule used to carry genetic information from one organism into another.
  15. (figurative) Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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way in which the eyes are drawn across the visual text
memory address containing the address of a code entry point

Verb

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vector (third-person singular simple present vectors, present participle vectoring, simple past and past participle vectored)

  1. To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.
    • 1994, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies:
      […] if love is vectored toward an object and Elinor's here flies toward Marianne, Marianne's in turn toward Willoughby.
  2. (computing) To redirect to a vector, or code entry point.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  • The New Oxford Dictionary of English

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin vectōrem.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vector m (plural vectors)

  1. vector

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vector m (plural vectoren, diminutive vectortje n)

  1. (mathematics) vector, an element of a vector space

Derived terms

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Galician

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

Noun

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vector m (plural vectores)

  1. vector

Derived terms

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Latin

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Etymology

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From vehō (“carry, bear, convey; ride”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vector m (genitive vectōris, feminine vectrīx); third declension

  1. bearer, carrier
  2. passenger

Declension

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Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative vector vectōrēs
Genitive vectōris vectōrum
Dative vectōrī vectōribus
Accusative vectōrem vectōrēs
Ablative vectōre vectōribus
Vocative vector vectōrēs
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Descendants

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  • → Catalan: vector
  • → Dutch: vector
  • → English: vector
  • → French: vecteur
  • → Galician: vector
  • → German: Vektor
  • → Italian: vettore
  • → Portuguese: vetor
  • → Romanian: vector
  • → Spanish: vector

Verb

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vector

  1. first-person singular present passive indicative of vectō

References

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  • “vector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “vector”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • passengers: vectores (Phil. 7. 9. 27)

Portuguese

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Noun

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vector m (plural vectores)

  1. Pre-reform spelling (until Brazil 1943/Portugal 1990) of vetor. Still used in countries where the agreement hasn't come into effect; may occur as a sporadic misspelling.

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French vecteur, Latin vector.

Noun

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vector m (plural vectori)

  1. vector

Declension

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Declension of vector
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) vector vectorul (niște) vectori vectorii
genitive/dative (unui) vector vectorului (unor) vectori vectorilor
vocative vectorule vectorilor

Spanish

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin vector.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /beɡˈtoɾ/ [beɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ
  • Syllabification: vec‧tor

Noun

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vector m (plural vectores)

  1. vector

Derived terms

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Further reading

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