bacillus

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Pronunciation

/bæˈsɪl.əs/

Definition of bacillus

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming aerobic bacteria in the genus Bacillus, some of which cause disease.

“'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'”
“"You will conceive a bunch of grapes," said he, "which are covered by some infinitesimal but noxious bacillus.”

See all 3 definitions

noun

Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming aerobic bacteria in the genus Bacillus, some of which cause disease.

“'This again,' said the Bacteriologist, slipping a glass slide under the microscope, 'is a preparation of the celebrated Bacillus of cholera - the cholera germ.'”
“"You will conceive a bunch of grapes," said he, "which are covered by some infinitesimal but noxious bacillus.”
Any bacilliform (rod-shaped) bacterium.
(broadly, figuratively)Something which spreads like bacterial infection.

“The “bacillus of boom or depression,” he wrote, travels freely “from country to country.””

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Learned borrowing from Latin bacillus (“little staff, wand”), diminutive of baculum (“stick, staff, walking stick”).

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