gramicidin

American

[gram-uh-sahyd-n] / ˌgræm əˈsaɪd n /

noun

Pharmacology.

a crystalline, water-insoluble antibiotic obtained from tyrothrycin by extraction, used chiefly in treating local infections caused by Gram-positive organisms.

gramicidin British

/ ˌɡræmɪˈsaɪdɪn /

noun

an antibiotic used in treating local Gram-positive bacterial infections: obtained from the soil bacterium Bacillus brevis

"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

Etymology

Origin of gramicidin

First recorded in 1935–40; Gram-(positive) + -i- + -cide + -in ²

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Margaret spent her fourth year working in Dorothy's lab on a crystal of the molecule Gramicidin S, which had been grown in the Soviet Union and sent to Dorothy for analysis.

From BBC

Gramicidin is not a mold extract, but is produced by bacteria.

From Time Magazine Archive

The development of penicillin was independent of our work with gramicidin.

From Time Magazine Archive

By this method and refinements of it, he at last found, in a sample of cranberry bog soil sent to him by Waksman, an organism from whose cultures he separated an active fraction that he named gramicidin.

From Time Magazine Archive

In spite of such failings, gramicidin touched off a chain reaction.

From Time Magazine Archive

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