effector

English

Alternative forms

• effecter
• effectour (obsolete)

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin effector. By surface analysis, effect + -or.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĭ-fĕk′tər
• (Received Pronunciation, Australia) IPA^(key): /ɪˈfek.tə/; (also Received Pronunciation) /ɪˈfɛk.tə/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɛk.təɹ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /əˈfek.tə/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɛk.təɾ/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ɪˈfɛ(ː)k.ʈɜː(ɾ)/, /ɪˈfɛ(ː)k.ʈəɾ/
• Rhymes: -ɛktə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: ef‧fec‧tor

Noun

effector (plural effectors)

1. One who or that which brings about an event or result, accomplishes a purpose, etc.
   • 1713, W[illiam] Derham, “[A Survey of the Particular Tribes of Animals.] That We Ought to Pay God All Due Homage and Worship, Particularly That of the Lord’s-Day.”, in Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC, book XI (Practical Inferences from the Foregoing Survey), pages 474–475:

     This Sanctification, and Bleſſing the Seventh Day, was ſetting it apart as a Day of Diſtinction from the Reſt of the Week-Days, and appropriating it to Holy Uſes and Purpoſes, namely, the Commemoration of that great Work of the Creation, and paying Homage and Worſhip to that infinite Being, who was the Effector of it.

   • 1833, Æschylus, translated by [Elizabeth Barrett Browning], “Prometheus Bound”, in Prometheus Bound. […] And Miscellaneous Poems, […], London: […] A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], →OCLC, page 29:

     Yea; and I devised Numbers—high art!—and letters’ composition, / And memory, effector of all things, / And mother of the Muses: […]

   • 1974, David Jones, “from The Book of Balaam’s Ass”, in The Sleeping Lord and Other Fragments, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 107:

     The Sanctifier and bright Lord who is glorious in operation, the dispositioner, the effector of all trans-substantiations, who sets the traverse wall according to the measure of the angel with the reed, who knows best how to gather his epiklesis from that open plain, who transmutes their cheerless blasphemy into a lover’s word, who spoke by Balaam and by Balaam’s ass, who spoke also by Sgt. Bullcock.

2. (biology) Any muscle, organ etc. that can respond to a stimulus from a nerve.
3. (biology) The part of a nerve that carries a stimulus to a muscle etc.
4. (biology) Any small molecule that effects the function of an enzyme by binding to an allosteric site.
5. (clarification of this definition is needed (e.g. in some cruise missiles?)) An actuator.

Derived terms

• bioeffector
• chemoeffector
• effectorome
• effectoromic
• effectoromics
• end-effector
• immunoeffector
• metaeffector
• neuroeffector
• osmoeffector
• thermoeffector

Related terms

• effect
• effective
• effectiveness
• effectivity
• effectome
• effectorless
• effectual
• effectuate
• efficacious
• efficacity
• efficacy
• efficiency
• efficient

See also

• receptor

Further reading

• “effector”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ

Proto-Indo-European *-s

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs

Proto-Italic *eks

Latin ex

Latin ex-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti

Proto-Italic *θakjō

Proto-Italic *fakjō

Latin faciō

Latin efficiō

Latin effectus

Proto-Indo-European *-tōr

Proto-Italic *-tōr

Latin -tor

Latin effector

From effectus + -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɛfˈfɛk.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [efˈfɛk.tor]
• Hyphenation: ef‧fec‧tor

Noun

effector m (genitive effectōris, feminine effectrīx); third declension

1. effecter, producer, cause

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	effector	effectōrēs
genitive	effectōris	effectōrum
dative	effectōrī	effectōribus
accusative	effectōrem	effectōrēs
ablative	effectōre	effectōribus
vocative	effector	effectōrēs

References

• “effector”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “effector”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Further reading

• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “effector”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• “effector”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.