Result from Foreign Dictionaries (4 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Factor \Fac"tor\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Factored} (-t[e^]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. {Factoring}.] (Mach.) To resolve (a quantity) into its factors. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Factor \Fac"tor\, n. [L. factor a doer: cf. F. facteur a factor. See {Fact}.] 1. (Law) One who transacts business for another; an agent; a substitute; especially, a mercantile agent who buys and sells goods and transacts business for others in commission; a commission merchant or consignee. He may be a home factor or a foreign factor. He may buy and sell in his own name, and he is intrusted with the possession and control of the goods; and in these respects he differs from a broker. --Story. --Wharton. [1913 Webster] My factor sends me word, a merchant's fled That owes me for a hundred tun of wine. --Marlowe. [1913 Webster] 2. A steward or bailiff of an estate. [Scot.] --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] 3. (Math.) One of the elements or quantities which, when multiplied together, form a product. [1913 Webster] 4. One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result; a constituent; a contributory cause. [1913 Webster +PJC] The materal and dynamical factors of nutrition. --H. Spencer. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: factor n 1: anything that contributes causally to a result; "a number of factors determined the outcome" 2: an abstract part of something; "jealousy was a component of his character"; "two constituents of a musical composition are melody and harmony"; "the grammatical elements of a sentence"; "a key factor in her success"; "humor: an effective ingredient of a speech" [syn: {component}, {constituent}, {element}, {factor}, {ingredient}] 3: one of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another integer; "what are the 4 factors of 6?" [syn: {divisor}, {factor}] 4: a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission [syn: {agent}, {factor}, {broker}] 5: any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when multiplied together 6: an independent variable in statistics 7: (genetics) a segment of DNA that is involved in producing a polypeptide chain; it can include regions preceding and following the coding DNA as well as introns between the exons; it is considered a unit of heredity; "genes were formerly called factors" [syn: {gene}, {cistron}, {factor}] v 1: resolve into factors; "a quantum computer can factor the number 15" [syn: {factor}, {factor in}, {factor out}] 2: be a contributing factor; "make things factor into a company's profitability" 3: consider as relevant when making a decision; "You must factor in the recent developments" [syn: {factor}, {factor in}, {factor out}] From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]: factor n. See {coefficient of X}.