Source and Factor

noun

• The place where something begins, where it springs into being.
  • usage: "the Italian beginning of the Renaissance"; "Jupiter was the origin of the radiation"; "Pittsburgh is the source of the Ohio River"; "communism's Russian root"
  • synonyms: beginning, origin, root, rootage
• A document (or organization) from which information is obtained.
  • usage: "the reporter had two sources for the story"
• Anything that provides inspiration for later work.
  • synonyms: seed, germ
• A facility where something is available.
• A person who supplies information.
  • synonyms: informant
• Someone who originates or causes or initiates something.
  • usage: "he was the generator of several complaints"
  • synonyms: generator, author
• Technology) a process by which energy or a substance enters a system. (
  • usage: "a heat source"; "a source of carbon dioxide"
• Anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies.
  • usage: "an infectious agent depends on a reservoir for its survival"
  • synonyms: reservoir
• A publication (or a passage from a publication) that is referred to.
  • usage: "he carried an armful of references back to his desk"; "he spent hours looking for the source of that quotation"
  • synonyms: reference

verb

• Get (a product) from another country or business.
  • usage: "She sourced a supply of carpet"; "They are sourcing from smaller companies"
• Specify the origin of.
  • usage: "The writer carefully sourced her report"

• (n.) The act of rising; a rise; an ascent.
• (n.) The rising from the ground or beginning, of a stream of water or the like; a spring; a fountain.
• (n.) That from which anything comes forth, regarded as its cause or origin; the person from whom anything originates; first cause.

(DoD) A person, thing, or activity from which information is obtained.
(DoD) In clandestine activities, a person (agent), normally a foreign national, in the employ of an intelligence activity for intelligence purposes.
(DoD) In interrogation activities, any person who furnishes information, either with or without the knowledge that the information is being used for intelligence purposes. In this context, a controlled source is in the employment or under the control of the intelligence activity and knows that the information is to be used for intelligence purposes. An uncontrolled source is a voluntary contributor of information and may or may not know that the information is to be used for intelligence purposes. See also agent; collection agency.

noun

• Anything that contributes causally to a result.
  • usage: "a number of factors determined the outcome"
• An abstract part of something.
  • usage: "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"
  • synonyms: component, constituent, element, ingredient
• One of two or more integers that can be exactly divided into another integer.
  • usage: "what are the 4 factors of 6"
  • synonyms: divisor
• A businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission.
  • synonyms: agent, broker
• Any of the numbers (or symbols) that form a product when multiplied together.
• An independent variable in statistics.
• 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. (
  • usage: "genes were formerly called factors"
  • synonyms: gene, cistron

verb

• Resolve into factors.
  • usage: "a quantum computer can factor the number 15"
  • synonyms: factor in, factor out
• Be a contributing factor.
  • usage: "make things factor into a company's profitability"
• Consider as relevant when making a decision.
  • usage: "You must factor in the recent developments"
  • synonyms: factor in, factor out

• (n.) 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.
• (n.) A steward or bailiff of an estate.
• (n.) One of the elements, circumstances or influences which contribute to produce a result; a constituent.
• (v.t.) To resolve (a quantity) into its factors.
• (n.) One of the elements or quantities which, when multiplied together, from a product.

1. The percent of the original face of an MBS pool that remains outstanding at any given time is called the current' factor'. Principal payments, made by the borrowers, reduce the original face every month. Thus there is a new current factor each month. The current face is always equal to the product of the original face times the current factor. 2. An individual or firm that purchases accounts receivable from firms in need of working capital. Usually, a specialized financial firm engaged exclusively or almost exclusively in factoring.