Factor
Factor , noun
[Latin factor a doer: compare French facteur a factor. See Fact.]
1.
(Law) 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. — Story
My factor sends me word, a merchant's fled
That owes me for a hundred tun of wine.
2.
A steward or bailiff of an estate. [Scottish] — Sir W. Scott
3.
(Mathematics) One of the elements or quantities which, when multiplied together, form a product.
4.
One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result; a constituent; a contributory cause.
The materal and dynamical factors of nutrition.
Factor (-terd) , transitive verb
(Machinery) To resolve (a quantity) into its factors.