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bacillus

American  
[buh-sil-uhs] / bəˈsɪl əs /

noun

plural

bacilli

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

  2. (formerly) any bacterium.

bacillus British  
/ bəˈsɪləs /

noun

  1. any rod-shaped bacterium, such as a clostridium bacterium Compare coccus spirillum

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

"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
bacillus Scientific  
/ bə-sĭl′əs /

plural

bacilli

  1. Any of various pathogenic bacteria, especially one that is rod-shaped.

Etymology

Origin of bacillus

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.