spirillum
Americannoun
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any of several spirally twisted, aerobic bacteria of the genus Spirillum, certain species of which are pathogenic for humans.
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any of various similar microorganisms.
noun
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Etymology
Origin of spirillum
1870–75; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin spīr ( a ) ( see spire 2) + -illum diminutive suffix
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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.
That is a spirillum that lives in the blood of rats and mice.�
From Time Magazine Archive
One is a wriggly spirillum, the other a cigar-shaped bacillus.
From Time Magazine Archive
At the height of the fever the spirillum appears in the blood as an attenuated, worm-like creature, actively struggling and squirming among the blood corpuscles.
From Sketches of the East Africa Campaign by Dolbey, Robert Valentine
The following description of the mode of examining the blood, and of the spirillum, is condensed from H. V. Carter's account: It is necessary to employ magnifying powers of not less than 500 diameters.
From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various
For some years it was called the “comma bacillus,” from its supposed resemblance in shape to a comma, but it was subsequently found Causation. to be a vibrio or spirillum, not a bacillus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various
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.
