English Dictionary

operator

/ˈɒpəˌɹeɪtə/

noun

One who operates. / A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to establish temporary network connections.

The operator of the machine is responsible for its maintenance.

意味（1）

One who operates.

The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

意味（2）

A telecommunications facilitator whose job is to establish temporary network connections.

意味（3）

(mathematics) A function or other mapping that carries variables defined on a domain into another variable or set of variables in a defined range.

意味（4）

(uncountable) The game of Chinese whispers.

意味（5）

(informal) A person who is adept at making deals or getting results, especially one who uses questionable methods.

Francis Urquhart: I think Lord Billsborough is starting to lose touch a bit.

Francis Urquhart: I think Lord Billsborough is starting to lose touch a bit. Tim Stamper: Shame. Used to be a hell of an operator in his day.

意味（6）

A member of a military special operations unit.

意味（7）

(computing) The administrator of a channel or network on IRC.

意味（8）

(computing) A symbol that represents a construct in a programming language and differs from a normal function in its syntax.

意味（9）

(linguistics) A kind of expression that enters into an a-bar movement dependency and is said to bind a variable.

In the sentence What did Bill say he wants to buy?, what is an operator, binding a phonetically empty variable.