filterable virus

American  

noun

1. a virus particle small enough to pass through a filter of diatomaceous earth or porcelain, which will not pass bacteria: chiefly historical or an informal indicator of size, as synthetic membrane filters now permit passage of the smallest virus.

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Etymology

Origin of filterable virus

First recorded in 1910–15

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

filterable virus

Medical texts of the period were studded with such notations as: "The cause of this disease is believed to be a filterable virus, but has not been isolated," Virology needed new foundations to build on.

From Time Magazine Archive

No one has ever isolated a microbe or filterable virus which could be shown to cause common colds.

From Time Magazine Archive

What causes infection is a mystery, although doctors suspect a filterable virus.

From Time Magazine Archive

Said the investigators: "The outbreak . . . was due to a filterable virus and spread through contact infection."

From Time Magazine Archive

But I know enough to say that someone has, without doubt, been using some sort of filterable virus to induce cancers, just as the experimenters at the Rockefeller Institute have done with animals.

From The Social Gangster by Arthur B. (Arthur Benjamin) Reeve

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