Car·ri·er n.
 1. One who, or that which, carries or conveys; a messenger.
    The air which is but . . . a carrier of the sounds.   --Bacon.
 2. One who is employed, or makes it his business, to carry goods for others for hire; a porter; a teamster.
    The roads are crowded with carriers, laden with rich manufactures.   --Swift.
 3. Mach. That which drives or carries; as: (a) A piece which communicates to an object in a lathe the motion of the face plate; a lathe dog. (b) A spool holder or bobbin holder in a braiding machine. (c) A movable piece in magazine guns which transfers the cartridge to a position from which it can be thrust into the barrel.
 Carrier pigeon Zool., a variety of the domestic pigeon used to convey letters from a distant point to to its home.
 Carrier shell Zool., a univalve shell of the genus Phorus; -- so called because it fastens bits of stones and broken shells to its own shell, to such an extent as almost to conceal it.
 Common carrier Law. See under Common, a.

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