carrier

noun Date: 14th century 1. one that carries ; bearer, messenger 2. a. an individual or organization engaged in transporting passengers or goods for hire b. a transportation line carrying mail between post offices c. a postal employee who delivers or collects mail d. one that delivers newspapers e. an entity (as a hole or an electron) capable of carrying an electric charge 3. a. a container for carrying b. a device or machine that carries ; conveyor 4. aircraft carrier 5. a. a bearer and transmitter of a causative agent of an infectious disease; especially one who carries the causative agent of a disease systemically but is asymptomatic or immune to it b. an individual (as one heterozygous for a recessive trait) having a specified gene that is not expressed or only weakly expressed in its phenotype 6. a. a usually inactive accessory substance ; vehicle <

a carrier for a drug or an insecticide

> b. a substance (as a catalyst) by whose agency some element or group is transferred from one compound to another 7. a. an electromagnetic wave or alternating current whose modulations are used as communications signals (as in radio, telephonic, or telegraphic transmissions) b. a telecommunication company 8. an organization acting as an insurer