dropletn.
A minute drop. droplet infection, infection conveyed by fine droplets of mucus sprayed into the air when a person opens his mouth to speak, cough, etc.
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the world > matter > liquid > [noun] > a quantity of > small > globular
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a1616 W. Shakespeare Timon of Athens (1623) v. v. 81 Our humane griefes..those our droplets, which From niggard Nature fall. View more context for this quotation
1788 Trifler xxv. 323 They are also to be..taken internally by droplets.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 45 When these droplets run together, they produce drops too heavy for suspension.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 20 Sept. 7/2 In the act of loud speaking, fine droplets of mucus are sprayed from the mouth into the air... It has been shown that by reading aloud for half an hour B[acillus] prodigiosus may be disseminated from the mouth to a distance of 24 ft. in front.]
1907 J. C. M'Vail Prevention Infect. Dis. 275 When a patient is out of doors in a solitary place droplet infection may on occasion be disregarded.
1932 Times Educ. Suppl. 17 Sept. 358/1 Droplet infection was responsible for the spread of sore throat.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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