> as lemmas

1836 W. E. Shuckard tr. H. Burmeister Man. Entomol. i. 306 The passive part, or germ-forming individual [is called] the female.

1844 R. Willis tr. R. Wagner Elements Physiol. i. §1. 1 These elements are formed and separated from the blood in the germ-preparing organs of the male and female.

1868 J. Dewar On Applic. Sulphurous Acid (ed. 10) 23 For as the clothes absorb and long retain an odour of the gas, the wearer will thereby carry with him a germ-proof shelter from epidemic invasion.

1895 Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. 2/1 There is no germ-breeder like an outcast.

1926 People's Home Jrnl. Feb. 16/1 (advt.) Dental science now traces scores of tooth and gum troubles to a germ-laden film that forms on your teeth.

1946 Liberty 15 June 81/1 Some of the ‘meateasies’ and slaughterhouses used for illegal butchering are in dirty shacks, dark unventilated basements, and other germ-infested hideaways.

1969 P. Bowles Let. 20 Aug. in In Touch (1994) 428 The dust gets so germ-laden after so many months without any rain that one marvels the disease is so benign.

1988 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 30 Oct. g4 Did you also know that science has proved the onion to be one of the most powerful germ killers in the world?

2003 National Post (Canada) 30 Apr. s1/5 Perhaps germ-killing goo, in this era of incurable plagues, has become the new cologne.