From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
vehicle
n 1: a conveyance that transports people or objects
2: a medium for the expression or achievement of something;
"his editorials provided a vehicle for his political
views"; "a congregation is a vehicle of group identity"
3: any inanimate object (as a towel or money or clothing or
dishes or books or toys etc.) that can transmit infectious
agents from one person to another [syn: fomite]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Vehicle \Ve"hi*cle\, n. [L. vehiculum, fr. vehere to carry; akin
to E. way, wain. See Way, n., and cf. Convex, Inveigh,
Veil, Vex.]
[1913 Webster]
1. That in or on which any person or thing is, or may be,
carried, as a coach, carriage, wagon, cart, car, sleigh,
bicycle, etc.; a means of conveyance; specifically, a
means of conveyance upon land.
[1913 Webster]
2. That which is used as the instrument of conveyance or
communication; as, matter is the vehicle of energy.
[1913 Webster]
A simple style forms the best vehicle of thought to
a popular assembly. --Wirt.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Pharm.) A substance in which medicine is taken.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Paint.) Any liquid with which a pigment is applied,
including whatever gum, wax, or glutinous or adhesive
substance is combined with it.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Water is used in fresco and in water-color painting,
the colors being consolidated with gum arabic; size is
used in distemper painting. In oil painting, the fixed
oils of linseed, nut, and poppy, are used; in
encaustic, wax is the vehicle. --Fairholt.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Chem.) A liquid used to spread sensitive salts upon glass
and paper for use in photography.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]