| 释义 |
fac·tor
I. \ˈfaktə(r) also -ˌtȯ(ə)r or -ȯ(ə)\ noun
(-s)
Etymology: Middle English factour, from Middle French facteur, from Latin factor maker, doer, from factus + -or
1. : a person that acts or transacts business for another : agent, deputy: as
a. : a commercial agent who sells or buys goods for others on commission : consignee; especially : one permitted to buy and sell in his own name and entrusted with the possession and control of goods — compare broker
b. now chiefly Scotland : a steward or bailiff of an estate; also : one appointed by law to have charge of forfeited or sequestered property
c. : an employee of the former East India Company of Britain that ranked above a writer and below a merchant
d. : the agent in charge of a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company who adds to the usual duties of a factor the care of the company's territory and often exercises a quasi police control of the surrounding region
e. : a commercial banker or finance company specializing in financial services to producers and dealers (as the discounting of accounts receivable)
2. obsolete
a. : partisan, adherent
b. : a maker, author, or doer of anything
3.
a. : something (as an element, circumstance, or influence) that contributes to the production of a result : constituent, ingredient
< people and people's doings are the essential factor — I.J.C.Brown >
< such factors as availability of adequate power, transportation, and a labor source must be considered in appraising an industrial site >
< hereditary predisposition, malnutrition, and overexertion are common factors in the development of many diseases >
b. or factor of production : a good or service (as land, labor, or capital) used in the process of production
c. : one of the elements determined in job evaluation to be essential to a job (as skill and training required, effort demanded, responsibility and working conditions involved) — called also job factor
4.
a. : gene
b. : a presumed equivalent of a gene (as a plasmagene)
< some authorities recognize more than one kind of cytoplasmic factor >
5.
a. : any of the numbers, quantities, or symbols in mathematics that when multiplied together form a product
b. : a quantity by which a measure must be multiplied or divided in order to express it in other terms; also : a quantity by which a given quantity is multiplied or divided in order to indicate a difference in measurement
c. : the number by which a given time is multiplied in photography to give the complete time for exposure or development
d. : a number that converts by multiplication the weight of one substance into the chemically equivalent weight of another substance — called also gravimetric factor
6. : a substance (as a hormone or vitamin) promoting or functioning in a particular physiological process; especially : such a substance of which the exact nature or mode of action is unknown
< the role of extrinsic factors in blood formation >
Synonyms: see element
II. \-_tə(r)\ verb
(factored ; factored ; factoring \-t(ə)riŋ\ ; factors)
transitive verb
1. : to resolve into factors : factorize
2. : to act as factor for
< factored his cousin's estate after he got out of the army >
intransitive verb
: to act as a factor especially in discounting accounts receivable
III. transitive verb
: to include or admit as a factor — used with in or into
< factor inflation into our calculations > |