antiviraladj.n.
A. adj.
1. Med. and Biol. Usually of a drug or treatment: active or effective against viruses.
ΚΠ
1929 Proc. Royal Soc. 1928–9 B. 104 549 It is possible that..antiviral serum may sensitise the virus for phagocytosis.
1934 Ann. Reg. 1933 ii. 63 The development, in horse and baboon serum, of anti-viral properties promises a means of immunising populations to yellow fever.
1987 Los Angeles Times 8 Nov. iv. 13/1 Agouron has concentrated its research on a handful of therapeutic drugs, including anti-viral and cancer drugs.
2001 Daily Tel. 31 Aug. 22/5 If shingles is diagnosed within the first 72 hours, one of the new anti-viral drugs can be effective.
2. Computing. Of software: designed to detect and remove, or offer protection from, computer viruses. Cf. antivirus n. 2.
ΚΠ
1988 Risks Digest (ACM Forum) (Electronic text) 2 Jan. The only new info is the description of the anti-viral software.
1994 CompuServe Mag. Oct. 29/2 He liked to ‘reverse engineer’ antiviral software, taking it apart to study what signatures it scanned for and what things the software excluded from its scrutiny.
2003 Enterprise (Nexis) 1 Apr. 52 Prices for antiviral and personal firewall software start at about £40.
B. n.
Med. and Biol. An antiviral drug.
ΚΠ
1954 Science 19 Mar. 391 Its inhibitory effect had been found to be competitive, as Groupe, Pugh, and Levine postulated for their ‘antivirals’.
1973 Jrnl. Med. Chem. 16 1296/1 (heading) Antivirals. 1. 2(d-Hydroxybenzyl)imidazo[4,5-c] pyridine.
1992 New Yorker 5 Oct. 63/3 He..takes acyclovir, an antiviral, to bolster the effects of AZT.
2001 Sci. Amer. Nov. 49/1 A number of antivirals on sale and under study operate after uncoating, when the viral genome..is freed for copying and directing the production of viral proteins.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2011).
<
adj.n.1929