Defn: An operative person or thing. [R.] Coleridge.
OPERATE Op"er*ate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Operated; p. pr. & vb. n. Operating.] Etym: [L. operatus, p.p. of operari to work, fr. opus, operis, work, labor; akin to Skr. apas, and also to G. üben to exercise, OHG. uoben, Icel. . Cf. Inure, Maneuver, Ure.]
1. To perform a work or labor; to exert power or strengh, physical or mechanical; to act.
2. To produce an appropriate physical effect; to issue in the result designed by nature; especially (Med.), to take appropriate effect on the human system.
3. To act or produce effect on the mind; to exert moral power or influence. The virtues of private persons operate but on a few. Atterbury. A plain, convincing reason operates on the mind both of a learned and ignorant hearer as long as they live. Swift.
4. (Surg.)
Defn: To perform some manual act upon a human body in a methodical manner, and usually with instruments, with a view to restore soundness or health, as in amputation, lithotomy, etc.
5. To deal in stocks or any commodity with a view to speculative profits. [Brokers' Cant]
OPERATE
Op"er*ate, v. t.
1. To produce, as an effect; to cause. The same cause would operate a diminution of the value of stock. A. Hamilton.