petri dish

American  

[pee-tree] / ˈpi tri /

noun

1. a shallow, circular, glass or plastic dish with a loose-fitting cover over the top and sides, used for culturing bacteria and other microorganisms.

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Petri dish British  

/ ˈpɛtrɪ /

noun

1. a shallow circular flat-bottomed dish, often with a fitting cover, used in laboratories, esp for producing cultures of microorganisms

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petri dish Scientific  

/ pē′trē /

1. A shallow, circular dish with a loose cover, usually made of transparent glass or plastic and used to grow cultures of microorganisms. The petri dish is named after German bacteriologist Julius Richard Petri (1852–1921).

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Etymology

Origin of petri dish

1890–95; named after J. R. Petri (died 1921), German bacteriologist

Example Sentences

A pilot friend who is crossing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands in a sailboat this month called cruise ships a “floating petri dish.‘

From The Wall Street Journal

"How about the brain and behaviour? How can you study behaviour in a petri dish? You just can't," he says.

From BBC

School and nursery can be like a petri dish with lots of viruses circulating and they may well bring these germs home with them.

From BBC

"To hear that there's going to be the potential of some of these very preventable diseases becoming a petri dish here in our location is troublesome," she said.

From BBC

Michelle grabs a petri dish that's growing bacteria from a patient with a painful, urinary tract infection that keeps coming back.

From BBC