Main Entry: car·ri·er

Pronunciation: \ˈkar-ē-ər\

Function: noun

1 a : a person, animal, or plant that harbors and transmits the causative agent of an infectious disease ; especially : one who carries the causative agent systemically but is asymptomatic or immune to it <a carrier of typhoid fever>—compare reservoir 2, vector 2 b : an individual possessing a specified gene and capable of transmitting it to offspring but not expressing or only weakly expressing its phenotype ; especially : one that is heterozygous for a recessive factor
2 : a usually inactive substance used in association with an active substance especially for aiding in the application of the active substance: as a : a support for a catalyst b : a vehicle serving especially as a diluent (as for an insecticide or a drug)
3 : a substance (as a catalyst) by whose agency some element or group is transferred from one compound to another