pilus
Americannoun
plural
piliEtymology
Origin of pilus
Borrowed into English from Latin around 1955–60
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.
They observed how a phage called PP7 infects P. aeruginosa by attaching to the pilus, which then retracts and pulls the phage to the cell surface.
From Science Daily
Structural models show how bacteria switch from pilus extension to retraction.
From Science Magazine
We developed small–molecular weight compounds termed mannosides that specifically inhibit the FimH type 1 pilus lectin of UPEC, which mediates bacterial colonization, invasion, and formation of recalcitrant intracellular bacterial communities in the bladder epithelium.
From Science Magazine
As each pilus gets tugged the bacterium staggers and stumbles, moving randomly across the surface.
From US News
Page 60 as A. verna; the pilus convex, the annulus broad and entire, Changed to pileus.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
