IRC operator
The user holding the keys to the IRC server itself rather than to a single channel — IRCop, in the vernacular.
Two kinds of operator tend to get mixed up on IRC. The channel operator, with an @ before their nick, runs one channel. The IRC operator has authority over the server and the network. The status came from an O-line in ircd.conf and was switched on with the /oper command and a password.
The toolkit was blunt: /kill booted a user off the entire network, /connect and /squit linked or unlinked servers, and K-lines shut people out for good. IRCops patched up netsplits, hunted clone bots and flooders, and in return received an endless stream of private messages from users wanting their channel back. On most networks the etiquette was that opers stay out of channel disputes, a rule broken about as often as it was invoked.