petri dish

[ pee-tree ]

noun

1. a shallow, circular, glass or plastic dish with a loose-fitting cover over the top and sides, used for culturing bacteria and other microorganisms.

Petri dish

/ ˈpɛtrɪ /

noun

1. a shallow circular flat-bottomed dish, often with a fitting cover, used in laboratories, esp for producing cultures of microorganisms

petri dish

/ pē′trē /

1. A shallow, circular dish with a loose cover, usually made of transparent glass or plastic and used to grow cultures of microorganisms. The petri dish is named after German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri (1852–1921).

Word History and Origins

Origin of petri dish¹

1890–95; named after J. R. Petri (died 1921), German bacteriologist

Word History and Origins

Origin of petri dish¹

C19: named after J. R. Petri (1852–1921), German bacteriologist

Example Sentences

Shiwakoti experimented with different exit scenarios using square petri dishes that had exits located in the middle of a side and in the corner.

From Nautilus

Before we could grow cultures in petri dishes and mix compounds in test tubes, Mother Nature was the world’s pharmacy.

From Popular-Science

While lab-grown meat was busy trying to find its way out of the petri dish, plant-based meat substitutes were undergoing a revolution.

From MIT Technology Review

She went back to her makeshift lab, placed a piece of udder in a petri dish, doused it with amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and salts, and carefully deposited it in an incubator.

From MIT Technology Review

Forty mosquitoes of each species were released into petri dishes coated in the original deltamethrin dust spray, and another 40 into a dish covered in the new form of the insecticide.

From Science News

It remains the receptive petri dish to any and all sorts of colonies of humanity that finally managed to find one another.

From The Daily Beast

“Roger basically had a petri dish to see what worked on cable,” Griffin says.

From The Daily Beast

My immune system was shot; my body had become a petri dish for every new virus of the week.

From The Daily Beast

The Holy Land has become a petri dish for hate, and separating the Israelis and the Palestinians has become nearly impossible.

From The Daily Beast

But Lebanon was a tiny country where the fighting could be contained like a plague in a Petri dish.

From The Daily Beast

Petri dish or cleaned photographic plates for sputum examination.

From Project Gutenberg

Pour each tube into a separate Petri dish and allow it to solidify.

From Project Gutenberg

Transfer each slice of egg by means of a pair of sterilised forceps to a Petri dish or large capsule.

From Project Gutenberg

Liquefy a tube of gelatine (or agar) by heat, pour it into a Petri dish, and allow it to solidify.

From Project Gutenberg

As soon as dry, transfer the cover-slip films to the ventilated Petri dish by means of sterile forceps.

From Project Gutenberg