Gram's method

American  

[gramz] / græmz /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a method of staining and distinguishing bacteria, in which a fixed bacterial smear is stained with crystal violet, treated with Gram's solution, decolorized with alcohol, counterstained with safranine, and washed with water.

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Gram's method British  

noun

1. bacteriol a staining technique used to classify bacteria, based on their ability to retain or lose a violet colour, produced by crystal violet and iodine, after treatment with a decolorizing agent See also Gram-negative Gram-positive

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Etymology

Origin of Gram's method

Named after Hans C. J. Gram (1853–1938), Danish bacteriologist

Example Sentences

In Gram's method, however, only some bacteria retain the stain, while others lose it.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" by Various

Young individuals are stained by Gram's method; older individuals are, however, Gram negative.

From The Bacillus of Long Life a manual of the preparation and souring of milk for dietary purposes, together with and historical account of the use of fermente by Douglas, Loudon

This is the case in the methods for staining the tubercle bacillus and also in Gram's method, the essential point in which latter is the treatment with a solution of iodine before decolorizing.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" by Various

It stains with moderate rapidity with the ordinary anilin dyes, and is decolorized by Gram's method.

From Contagious Abortion of Cows by MacNeal, Ward J.

Glanders is due to the action of a specific bacterium, the bacillus mallei, which resembles the tubercle bacillus, save that it is somewhat shorter and broader, and does not stain by Gram's method.

From Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition. by Thomson, Alexis