vectorn.
/ˈvɛktə/, U.S. /ˈvɛktər/ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > heavenly body > movement of heavenly bodies > [noun] > movement in orbit > orbit > parts of orbit
aphelion1656
perihelion1666
vector1704
elongation1708
orb1733
periaster1851
orbitale1901
Lagrangian point1962
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word) A Line supposed to be drawn from any Planet moving round a Center, or the Focus of an Ellipsis, to that Center or Focus, is by some Writers of the New Astronomy, called the Vector; because 'tis that Line by which the Planet seems to be carried round its Center.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 28 If a right line, called by some the vector radius, be drawn from the sun through any planet, and supposed to revolve round the sun with the planet [etc.].
2.
a. Mathematics. A quantity having direction as well as magnitude, denoted by a line drawn from its original to its final position. axial vector = pseudovector n.; polar vector, a vector which changes sign when the signs of all its components are changed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector
vector1846
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > specific type of
R1675
radius vector1740
spin vector1882
axial vector1903
polar vector1903
free vector1904
position vector1906
four-vector1914
pseudovector1922
row vector1928
1846 W. R. Hamilton in London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. 3rd Ser. 29 27 The algebraically imaginary part, being geometrically constructed by a straight line, or radius vector, which has, in general, for each determined quaternion, a determined length and determined direction in space, may be called the vector part, or simply the vector of the quaternion.
a1865 W. R. Hamilton Elements Quaternions (1866) i. i. 1 A right line AB, considered as having not only length, but also direction, is said to be a Vector.
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism I. 9 A Vector, or Directed Quantity, requires for its definition three numerical specifications, and these may most simply be understood as having reference to the directions of the coordinate axes.
1882 G. M. Minchin Uniplanar Kinematics 109 The resultant of a system of vectors whose type is ω . IP dm, if each were directed from I to P, would be a vector ω M . IG directed from I to G.
1903 Nature 22 Oct. 610/1 This algebra..does not discriminate between ‘polar’ vectors, e.g. forces and ‘axial’ vectors, e.g. couples.
1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics v. 101 Angular momentum is an axial vector quantity, unlike linear momentum which is a polar vector.
b. Mathematics. An ordered set of two or more numbers (interpretable as the co-ordinates of a point); a matrix with one row or one column; also, any element of a vector space.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > vector space > element of
vector1922
1873 [see sense 2a].
1881 J. W. Gibbs Sci. Papers (1906) II. 17 The numerical description of a vector requires three numbers.
1922 J. B. Shaw Vector Calculus i. 6 A vector is usually designated by a triple as (x, y, z), and usually such triple is called a vector.
1938 R. A. Frazer et al. Elem. Matrices i. 2 A row matrix is often called..a vector of the first kind..; while a column matrix is referred to as a vector of the second kind.
1940 D. E. Littlewood Theory Group Characters i. 5 A square matrix..of order n2 may be regarded as composed of n column vectors.
1961 Communications ACM 4 424/2 The analysis of a program into phases and sequences is accomplished by associating with each sequence a vector of ones and zeros.
1965 E. M. Patterson & D. E. Rutherford Elem. Abstr. Algebra v. 155 The polynomial ring P(F) is a vector space over the same field F... The polynomials are in this case the vectors of this vector space.
1976 Biometrika 63 438 Given N0, the vector (n1, …, nx0) will have a multinomial distribution with N0 trials.
1981 N. Rau Matrices & Math. Programming i. 16 Up to this point, vectors have been considered simply as a special case of matrices... For the rest of this book..‘vector’ will always be used to mean column vector.
c. Aeronautics. A course to be taken by an aircraft, or steered by a pilot.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > action of flying (in) aircraft > navigation of course of aircraft > [noun] > course
course1905
flight path1911
heading1917
track1919
vector1941
1941 D. Masters So Few xxx. 333 ‘I've got to get a Hun tonight. I'll give you a bottle of champagne if you put me on to one.’.. ‘All right,..I'll give you a vector.’
1951 O. Berthoud tr. P. H. Clostermann Big Show 102 I am climbing flat out on vector 095.
1978 R. V. Jones Most Secret War xxi. 177 The ground station ordered an aircraft to steer a course of 270° (i.e. due west) presumably because it was east of the beam, and this was the vector required to bring it to the right point to start its bombing run.
d. Computing. A sequence of consecutive locations in memory; a series of items occupying such a sequence and identified within it by means of one subscript; spec. one serving as the address to which a program must jump when interrupted, and supplied by the source of the interruption.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > hardware > [noun] > memory > position of > set of
block1948
page1948
bank1953
array1957
stack1960
vector1961
1961 Communications ACM 4 61/1 Since it is often necessary to refer to memory addresses and the contents of memory cells in this discussion, the almost-legitimate device of the ‘Memory vector’ will be used. This is done by assuming the entire memory of the machine in question to constitute a single one-dimensional vector, named ‘Memory’.
1962 E. W. Dijkstra Primer of ALGOL 60 Programming 37 The simplest example of such an array is a vector, i.e. a sequence of subscripted variables.
1967 D. G. Hays Introd. Computational Linguistics ii. 26 When the program stops, the J-th column of the matrix F has been copied into the vector G.
1967 P. A. Stark Digital Computer Programming xiv. 255 After checking the transfer vector to see that the subroutine name is there, the loader goes back into the mainline program and fixes the linkage so that the mainline program jumps into the transfer vector.
1975 R. H. Eckhouse Minicomputer Syst. vi. 186 The new contents of the PC [sc. program counter] and the PS [sc. processor status] are loaded from two preassigned consecutive memory locations called an interrupt vector... The contents of these vectors are determined by the programmer.
1982 Economist 3 Apr. 128/3 Individual units of data (ie, binary numbers) are stored in the computer's memory in long lists called vectors.
1982 R. A. Sparkes Microcomputers in Sci. Teaching v. 199 A test must be included into the routine to ascertain if the user wants to return to normal working. If so, the ISR [sc. interrupt service routine] vector is changed back to 58926 and the extra routine is by-passed.
1984 Personal Software Winter 89/3 During loading, a message is displayed on the screen and the keyboard and screen vectors are changed to effect automatic program execution.
3.
a. Medicine and Biology. A person, animal, or plant which carries a pathogenic agent and acts as a potential source of infection for members of another species. Also in extended use. Cf. carrier n.1 11a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [noun] > person or population > carrier
carrier1593
vector1922
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 896/1 Such arthropoda..being specific ‘nurses’ or intermediary hosts of the parasite actually causing the disease, are known as ‘carriers’ or ‘vectors’.
1931 Nature 6 June 853 The insect vector of tobacco ringspot..does not appear to be known.
1944 Nature 5 Aug. 167/2 Regular transmission of viruses by the egg of the host plant (the insect vector does not concern us unless it suffers) probably does not occur.
1962 R. L. Carson Silent Spring (1963) xvi. 220 An even more serious problem concerns the vector of yellow fever.
1972 Lancet 17 June 1338/2 The stethoscope is yet another vector of pathogenic organisms.
1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. xii. 64/2 The spread of each of the insect-borne diseases depends on a complicated chain of events involving..a reservoir of infection which may be either in man or in other animals,..the insect vector and..a susceptible human population.
1976 Dumfries & Galloway Standard 25 Dec. 8/6 A small boy recovered after being bitten by a rabid bat, it being thought that the disease had been modified by passage through this unusual vector.
b. Genetics. A bacteriophage which transfers genetic material from one bacterium to another; also, a phage or plasmid used to transfer extraneous DNA into a cell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > genetic components > [noun] > other genetic structures
messenger1905
transforming principle1944
muton1957
prokaryon1957
recon1957
vector1958
operon1960
R1961
codon1962
replicon1963
regulon1964
promoter1965
promotor1966
transconjugant1974
cassette1977
the world > life > biology > organism > micro-organism > virus > phage > [noun] > types of
T1944
lambda1950
heterozygote1952
lambdoid1958
vector1958
1958 Abstr. 7th Internat. Congr. Microbiol. 53 The modified phage particle so produced has been identified as the transducing vector.
1968 W. Hayes Genetics of Bacteria & their Viruses (ed. 2) xvii. 478 Some other temperate phages..can act as vectors for the transfer, to recipient bacteria, of virtually any region of the host chromosome.
1976 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73 2838/1 Gene transfer between two closely related mouse cell lines has been carried out, using as the vector a cell~free preparation of metaphase chromosomes and nuclei.
1982 T. M. Devlin Textbk. Biochem. xx. 986/2 The methodology involves obtaining the DNA of the desired gene; placing the DNA into a vector or vehicle capable of transporting the gene and maintaining it inside an E. coli cell;..and determining whether the gene is functional in E. coli.
1983 Sci. Amer. Jan. 58/2 Plasmids are routinely used as vectors for introducing foreign DNA into bacteria.
1985 R. W. Old & S. B. Primrose Princ. Gene Recombination (ed. 3) 222 This may have the additional property of being a shuttle vector, capable of stable replication in E. coli and A. tumefaciens.
4. figurative and in extended use.
ΚΠ
1926 Spectator 30 Oct. 735/1 Even if there was a listener~in within the narrow vector of the vibrations, he could not hope to receive the messages at the rate at which they will be sent.
1954 W. Faulkner Fable 82 He identified himself, naming his battalion and its vector.
1957 L. Durrell Bitter Lemons 37 But I was on a different vector, hunting for other qualities which might make residence tolerable, or might isolate me from my fellows.
1976 Listener 15 Apr. 466/1 Once, a long vector of geese flew over.
1977 A. Hecht in Oxf. Bk. Contemp. Verse (1980) 173 The athlete's dancing vector, the spirit's need, And muscle's cleanly diction.
1979 UCT Stud. in Eng. (Univ. Cape Town) Sept. 39 Antithesis is, of course, the chief trope of the rape genre, not only in respect of the obvious contrasts drawn between the heroine's purity and her shame, but also with regard to the vectors of these states—contrastive images of light and dark.
Compounds
C1. attributive.
a. In the sense ‘of the nature of a (mathematical) vector, representable by a vector’; also as adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [adjective] > of nature of a vector
vector1846
vectorial1882
1846 [see sense 2a].
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism I. 9 A vector quantity has direction as well as magnitude, and is such that a reversal of its direction reverses its sign.
1880 S. T. Preston in Nature 15 Jan. 256/2 Some vector property (such as rotation about an axis).
1881 J. W. Gibbs Sci. Papers (1906) II. 37 Maxwell has called −∇.∇u the concentration of u, whether u is scalar or vector.
1962 D. R. Corson & P. Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields i. 1 Wind velocity, gravitational force, and electric field intensity are examples of..vector quantities.
1975 Nature 18 Sept. 191/1 β-decay within isospin multiplets of Jπ = 0+ is pure vector because there is no nuclear spin to flip.
b. In the sense ‘involving (mathematical) vectors’, as vector addition, vector algebra, vector analysis, vector calculus, vector method, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [adjective] > of nature of a vector > involving vectors
vector1873
1873 P. Kelland & P. G. Tait Introd. Quaternions iii. 32 (heading) Vector multiplication and division.
1881 A. S. Hardy Elem. Quaternions i. 3 The operation of vector addition is commutative.
1881 J. W. Gibbs Sci. Papers (1906) II. 17 An algebra or analytical method in which a single letter or other expression is used to specify a vector may be called a vector algebra or vector analysis.
1897 C. E. Curry Theory Electr. & Magnetism 361 If we replace the vector-equation by its three component-equations and the vector-integrals of the latter by the above values.
1904 Rep. Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1903 53 I cannot help thinking that he would have used vector methods throughout if he had found ready to hand a vector analysis instead of a theory of quaternions.
1955 A. Huxley Genius & Goddess 38 The great man would get bored and quietly fade away, leaving me to solve Timmy's problem by some method a little simpler than vector analysis.
1964 J. W. Linnett Electronic Struct. Molecules i. 7 The resultant angular momentum is, therefore, by vector addition..√2h/2π.
1968 E. T. Copson Metric Spaces ix. 138 This is ordinary vector algebra without scalar and vector products.
1969 Jane's Freight Containers 1968–9 147/2 It has been assumed..that the vector sum (the actual value of the lashing tension) will not exceed 30 400 kgf.
1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xxxii. 786 By Maxwell's time a great deal of vector analysis was created by treating the scalar and vector parts of quaternions separately.
1973 H. M. Schey Div, Grad, Curl, & All That i. 1 Much of vector calculus was invented for use in electromagnetic theory and is ideally suited to it.
1982 Sci. Amer. Jan. 117/3 For any operation that can be applied to a single operand (such as the extraction of the square root) there is a corresponding vector operation that consists of applying the same operation to every element of a vector.
c. Particle Physics. Used to designate particles with a spin of 1; vector boson, esp. any of a group of three heavy bosons (the W± and Z0, qq.v.) thought to exist as mediators of the weak interaction. [See quot. 1976.]
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > quantum theory > electron spin > [adjective] > having spin of 1
vector1942
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > weak or strong force > [noun] > weak force > intermediary of weak interaction
intermediate boson1958
vector boson1976
1942 Physical Rev. 62 403 The β-matrices in the vector meson theory can be reduced to the simpler ζ-matrices and S matrices (spin matrices).
1949 Physical Rev. 76 784/1 The exchange of two charged vector mesons.
1959 Bull. de l'Acad. Polonaise des Sci.: Série des Sci. Math. 7 729 Recently a hypothesis of a charged vector boson, which would mediate in weak interactions, was much discussed.
1968 M. S. Livingston Particle Physics xii. 218 The agency of this weak force is presumed to be a vector boson.
1975 Nature 3 Apr. 387/2 In a simple SU(4) scheme there is an obvious place for one ψ particle, in the same multiplet as the well established vector mesons ρ, ω and ϕ.
1976 Sci. Amer. Jan. 46/1 They are called vector bosons because the quantum-mechanical equation that describes particles with a spin of 1 takes the form of a four-dimensional vector.
1978 Nature 12 Oct. 483/1 These fermions interact through vector particles: the photon, charged and neutral massive vector bosons, and gluons, which are responsible for the electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions, respectively.
1983 Nature 27 Jan. 285 Physicists in Geneva have discovered the intermediate vector boson.
C2. Special combinations:
vector address n. Computing an address specified by an interrupt vector (see sense 2d above).
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [noun] > address > type of
absolute address1951
relative address1951
symbolic address1953
base address1958
indirect address1959
pointer1963
direct address1964
immediate address1964
vector address1975
referrer1995
1975 R. H. Eckhouse Minicomputer Syst. vi. 189 The various vector addresses and priority levels for the teletype, high-speed reader/punch, and clock on the PDP-11 are as follows.
1982 R. A. Sparkes Microcomputers in Sci. Teaching v. 199 All we have to do is to change the vector address and the ISR [sc. interrupt service routine] will start by executing our routine instead.
vector-borne adj. (of a disease or pathogen) transmitted or carried by a vector (sense 3a above).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [adjective] > agent or medium > transmitted by
waterborne1873
blood-borne1885
food-borne1898
louse-borne1919
tick-borne1921
vector-borne1956
1956 Nature 25 Feb. 367/1 With its further expansion..the designation of the East African Malaria Unit has been changed to the East African Institute of Malaria and Vector-Borne Diseases.
1963 Lancet 12 Jan. 109/2 This tumour..might be due to a vector-borne virus.
1971 P. C. C. Garnham Progress in Parasitol. i. 3 In order to prevent too wide a diffusion of parasitology it is useful to impose some sort of restriction, and this perhaps can best be done by adding to the classical subjects of protozoology and helminthology, only vector-borne infections of other types.
vector field n. a field defined at each point by a vector quantity; a map from a space to a space of two or more dimensions.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > transformation > [noun] > correspondence > into or from a space
path1912
vector field1922
scalar field1932
net1939
1922 J. B. Shaw Vector Calculus iii. 26 A vector field is a system of vectors each associated with a point of space, or a point of a surface, or a point of a line or curve.
1932 R. Gans Vector Anal. i. 1 The field is called a scalar field or a vector field according as the quantity associated with the field is a scalar or a vector.
1976 Physics Bull. Sept. 387/3 The vector fields that are particularly relevant to cosmology are those representing the motion of particles and electric charges.
vector function n. a function whose value is a vector quantity.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > function of
vector function1873
vector potential1873
vector product1878
gradient1901
scalar triple product1901
vector triple product1901
grad1909
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism I. 10 Quantities of this class require nine numerical specifications. They are expressed in the language of Quaternions by linear and vector functions of a vector.
1971 W. Hauser Introd. Princ. Electromagn. iii. 77 Vector function F1 is a curl-less vector function... It is therefore expressible as the negative gradient of a scalar function of position. We thus set F1 = − ∇ψ(r), where the function ψ(x, y, z) is referred to as the scalar potential of F1.
1972 M. Kline Math. Thought xxxii. 786 Maxwell noted..that the curl of a gradient of a scalar function and the divergence of the curl of a vector function are always zero.
vector potential n. a potential function that is a vector function (see potential n. 5a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > function of
vector function1873
vector potential1873
vector product1878
gradient1901
scalar triple product1901
vector triple product1901
grad1909
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism II. iii. ii. 27 (heading) The Vector-Potential of Magnetic induction.
1881 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magnetism (ed. 2) II. 28 The vector, whose components are F.G.H., is called the vector-potential of magnetic induction.
1962 D. R. Corson & P. Lorrain Introd. Electromagn. Fields v. 186 We shall now show that the magnetic induction B is related to a certain quantity A through the equation B = ∇ × A, where the vector A is called..the vector potential.
vector product n. a vector function of two vectors, (a1, a2, a3) of length a and (b1, b2, b3) of length b, equal to (a2b3–a3b2, a3b1–a1b3, a1b2–a2b1), representing a vector perpendicular to them both and of magnitude ab sin θ (where θ is the angle between them).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > function of
vector function1873
vector potential1873
vector product1878
gradient1901
scalar triple product1901
vector triple product1901
grad1909
1878 W. K. Clifford Elem. Dynamic 95 We are led to two different kinds of product of two vectors,..a vector product..and a scalar product.
1901 J. W. Gibbs & E. B. Wilson Vector Anal. ii. 68 The second triple product is the scalar product of two vectors, of which one is itself a vector product, as A · (B × C) or (A × B) · C. This sort of product has a scalar value and consequently is often called the scalar triple product.
1965 J. Abram Tensor Calculus iii. 27 We could have written eqn. (3.14) as aj(bicj − bjci) in which the bracket is an anti-symmetric tensor of order two. It is known as the outer product of the two vectors bi and ci. Only in three dimensions can the outer product be replaced by the vector product.
1972 A. G. Howson Handbk. Terms Algebra & Anal. xxxiv. 169 Given two vectors a.., b..we define their vector product (cross product or outer product) denoted by a × b (or a ∧ b).
vector space n. a group whose elements can be combined with each other and with the elements of a scalar field in the way that vectors can, addition within the group being commutative and associative and multiplication by a scalar being distributive and associative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > vector space
linear algebra1870
Lie algebra1935
vector space1937
1937 A. A. Albert Mod. Higher Algebra Index 319/2 Vector space; see Linear set.
1965 [see sense 2b]. 1970 Nature 19 Dec. 1234/2 A vector space is built up linearly by means of ‘scalar’ multipliers from a number field.
1972 A. G. Howson Handbk. Terms Algebra & Anal. viii. 39 Homomorphisms of vector spaces..preserve linear combinations of the type λ1a1 + λ2a2 +…+ λnan.
vector triple product n. a vector function of three three-vectors equal to the vector product of one of them with the vector product of the other two, i.e. a × (b × c).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > tensor > [noun] > vector > function of
vector function1873
vector potential1873
vector product1878
gradient1901
scalar triple product1901
vector triple product1901
grad1909
1901 J. W. Gibbs & E. B. Wilson Vector Anal. ii. 72 The vector triple product may be used to express that component of a vector B which is perpendicular to a given vector A.
1964 E. Œ. Wolstenhome Elem. Vectors ii. 38 If a, b, c are three vectors, any pair of them may be multiplied vectorially to form a new vector d, the third of the original vectors may then be multiplied by d, either scalarly to form what is known as a scalar triple product, or vectorially to form..the vector triple product.
Draft additions June 2022
vector graphics n. Computing digital graphics created using mathematically defined elements (start and end points, angles, etc.) which can be scaled without any loss in image quality, as opposed to pixelated or raster images.
ΚΠ
1961 College of Engin. Announcem. 1961–2 (Univ. of Michigan) 128 Special geometrical constructions, graphical solutions of equations, theory of graphical scales and nomography, empirical equations, graphical calculus and vector graphics.
1991 P. M. Mather Computer Applic. in Geogr. 216 Some computer systems use raster graphics which generally have a lower resolution than the more expensive vector graphics.
2020 Financial Times (Nexis) 30 Sept. 14 Algorithmic design encourages planners and architects to treat buildings like scaleless objects, like those vector graphics that expand endlessly without loss of resolution.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
vectorv.
/ˈvɛktə/, U.S. /ˈvɛktər/ transitive.
a. To direct (an aircraft) on its course or towards a target.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > attack with aircraft [verb (transitive)] > direct aircraft
vector1945
1945 Radar 34 If the pilot had to ditch, the radar set spotted where he went down, vectoring out to that exact spot the air-sea rescue planes.
1958 Daily Mail 24 Oct. 9/2 If the pilot of a military aircraft wants to cross one of the ten-mile-wide airways radiating from the big airports..he can be ‘vectored’ across by R.A.F. radar.
1976 B. Jackson Flameout i. 20 He'd been first officer of a DC-8 vectored over Newark when a Constellation had collided with the jet.
b. gen. To direct, esp. towards a destination; to change the direction of.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > cause to move in a direction [verb (transitive)]
steerc888
righteOE
wisec1330
guy1362
makea1425
guide?a1505
to make forth1508
direct1526
to make out1560
bend1582
incline1597
work1667
usher1668
head1826
humour1847
vector1966
target1974
1966 New Scientist 27 Jan. 213/3 A flexible cup to hold a rocket's nozzle and so allow it to be vectored or swung for steering purposes.
1978 K. Amis Jake's Thing ii. 20 This time Brenda's tone was warm but the warmth was firmly vectored on her friend.
1979 G. D. Kraft & W. N. Toy Mini/Microcomputer Hardware Design viii. 391 The address found..vectors the processor to the appropriate device service routine.
1983 Your Computer Aug. 21/2 Version 1.2 contains several new features, such as the ability to vector output to one of a number of outputs.
Derivatives
ˈvectored adj. ; vectored thrust, thrust that can be varied in direction.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > [adjective] > moved in a direction
vectored1960
society > travel > air or space travel > specific movements or positions of aircraft > aerodynamic forces and concepts > [noun] > thrust > directional
reverse thrust1876
vectored thrust1960
1960 Aeroplane 98 261/1 The Ryan VZ-3RY Vertiplane ‘vectored-slipstream’ VTOL research aircraft was destroyed early this month during a test flight.
1962 Flight Internat. 81 234/1 The future will undoubtedly see larger, heavier and more complex VTOL aircraft using the principle of ‘vectored thrust’.
1973 Black World May 6/2 Our scholars and leaders and common people must have vectored minds if we are to prevail. This means we must actively seek stabilizing forces.
1982 Daily Tel. 15 June 3/1 He knew of no occasion in which a Harrier had found it necessary to use the special jump~jet tactic of using vectored thrust..to hop out of the way of an attacking aircraft.
Draft additions September 2022
transitive. To serve as the vector of (a pathogenic agent or infectious disease). Cf. vector n. 3.
ΚΠ
1949 Plant Dis. Reporter 33 430 The reported paucity of all aphids in the region, including those known to vector melon mosaics elsewhere, may account for the comparatively low incidence of melon mosaics during the past season.
1984 D. C. Allen Princ. Forest Entomol. 141 Members of this family [sc. Tabanidae] are powerful fliers and are known to vector certain disease causing organisms such as tularemia and anthrax.
2006 J. T. Costa Other Insect Societies xiii. 365 The plant feeders came to the attention of entomologists first, thanks to their unfortunate habit of vectoring plant diseases.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online September 2022).
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n.1704
v.1945