bacillus

[buh-sil-uh s]

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noun, plural ba·cil·li [buh-sil-ahy] /bəˈsɪl aɪ/.

any rod-shaped or cylindrical bacterium of the genus Bacillus, comprising spore-producing bacteria.

(formerly) any bacterium.

Origin of bacillus

1880–85; < Late Latin, variant of Latin bacillum (diminutive of baculum) staff, walking stick

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bacilli

microorganism, germ, virus, bug, bacterium, bacillus, pathogen, illness, ailment, sickness, disease, infection, microbe, crud, plague, germs

Examples from the Web for bacilli

Contemporary Examples of bacilli

That in the bacilli we have … the actual infective cause of tuberculosis.
When TB Was a Death Sentence: An Excerpt From ‘The Remedy’
Thomas Goetz
April 16, 2014

Historical Examples of bacilli

I think he is taking home the bacilli of the bubonic plague as a present to our country.
Quaint Courtships
Various
But there are influences, as there are bacilli, which unconsciously we absorb.
The Paliser case
Edgar Saltus
The latter come in contact with the bacilli, and remain for some time attached to them.
Histology of the Blood
Paul Ehrlich
Nearly all cocci are immotile, while the bacilli may or may not be.
Outlines of Dairy Bacteriology, 8th edition
H. L. Russell
Even a temperature of 70° C. is able to lessen the efficacy of the bacilli.
Prof. Koch's Method to Cure Tuberculosis Popularly Treated
Max Birnbaum

British Dictionary definitions for bacilli

bacillus

noun plural -cilli (-ˈsɪlaɪ)

any rod-shaped bacterium, such as a clostridium bacteriumCompare coccus (def. 2), spirillum (def. 1)

any of various rodlike spore-producing bacteria constituting the family Bacillaceae, esp of the genus Bacillus

Word Origin for bacillus

C19: from Latin: a small staff, from baculum walking stick

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bacilli

plural of bacillus (q.v.).

bacillus

1877, medical Latin, from Late Latin bacillus "wand," literally "little staff," diminutive of baculum "a stick," from PIE root *bak- "staff," also source of Greek bakterion (see bacteria). Introduced as a term in bacteriology 1853 by German botanist Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898).

bacilli in Medicine

bacillus

[bə-sĭl′əs]

n. pl. ba•cil•li (-sĭl′ī′)

Any of various rod-shaped, usually gram-positive aerobic bacteria of the genus Bacillus that often occur in chains and include Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax.

Any of various bacteria, especially a rod-shaped bacterium.