vector

To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.

Noun

  1. A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
    • Velocity is a vector defined by the speed of an object and its direction.
    • 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. - 1914, The New Student's...

    Hypernyms: tensor

    Coordinate Terms: rotor

    1. (mathematics) Any member of a (generalized) vector space.

      • The vectors in #123;#92;mathbbQ#125;#91;X#93; are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is #92;textstylex#123;42#125;#43;#92;frac1#123;137#125;x-1.

      Hypernyms: tensor

      Coordinate Terms: rotor

    2. (mathematics, computing) An ordered tuple, originally one representing a directed quantity, but by extension any one-dimensional matrix.

      • Computers store many types of data as vectors for ease of processing.
      • 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. - 2003 February 26, Julio Sanchez, Maria P....
      • Color is stored as a vector attribute (R, G, B). - 2011 March 8, Lee Lanier, Advanced Maya Texturing and Lighting, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 97:

      Hypernyms: tensor matrix

      Coordinate Terms: rotor

    3. (aviation) A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.

      • I was told to fly out on a vector of 100 degrees to meet a strong plot of aircraft 30 miles from the coast. - 2017, Mark Chambers, Tony Holmes, Nakajima B5N ‘Kate’ and B6N ‘Jill’ Units, page 32:

      Hypernyms: tensor

      Coordinate Terms: rotor

  2. A kind of dynamically resizable array.
    • To create a vector of students in a class, you will want the vector to be large enough […] - 2004, Jesse Liberty, Bradley L. Jones, Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days, page 694:

    1. (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.

    2. (computer graphics, attributive) A graphical representation using outlines; vector graphics.

      • a vector image, vector graphics

      Coordinate Terms: raster

  3. A carrier of a disease-causing agent.

    1. (molecular biology) A DNA molecule used to carry genetic information from one organism into another.

    2. (sociology) A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.

      • 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. - 2020 October 12,...

    3. (psychology) A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.

  4. Forces, developments, phenomena, processes, systems, etc. which influence the trajectory of history (e.g. imperialism)

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- Proto-Indo-European *wéǵʰeti Proto-Italic *weɣō Latin vehō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin vectorlbor. English vector Learned borrowing from Latin vector (“carrier, transporter”), from vehō (“to carry, transport, 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.

Forms

vectors

Hyponyms

axial vector Burgers vector change vector column vector Darboux vector displacement vector Euclidean vector gradient vector gyrovector irrotational vector Laplace–Runge–Lenz vector latent vector normal vector null vector position vector poxvector Poynting vector proper vector random vector row vector spin vector tangent vector unit vector wave vector

Derived

adenovector attack vector axial vector basis vector biovector bitvector bivector characteristic vector code vector covector direction vector distance vector four-vector intermediate vector boson isovector Killing vector field minivector multivector nanovector net magnetization vector normed vector space paravector Pauli vector phasor

Verb

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

Forms

vectors vectoring vectored

Derived

thrust vectoring