virusn.
/ˈvʌɪrəs/, U.S. /ˈvaɪrəs/ 1. † a. Semen. Obsolete. rare.† c. Violent animosity; virulence. Obsolete. rare.
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a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 60 Among þe gentals [read genitals], on hatte þe pyntyl veretrum in latyn, for it is a man his owne membre oþer for virus come ouȝt þerof.
b. Venom (literal and figurative); esp. the venom secreted in the bite or sting of a snake, spider, etc.
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the world > animals > animal body > general parts > substance or secretion and excretion > [noun] > venom
atterc1000
venomc1220
virus1599
1599 Master Broughtons Lett. Answered iv. 14 You haue..spit out all the virus and poyson you could conceiue, in the abuse of his..person.
1702 R. Mead Mech. Acct. Poisons i. 26 The Story of Cleopatra..pouring the Virus of an Asp into a Wound made in her Arm by her own Teeth.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Viper By the Microscope, the Virus was found to consist of minute Salts in continual Motion.
1853 R. Allsop Calif. & its Gold Mines xiii. 76 The [poison] oak sap, or vital fluid, had in the first instance come into contact with a slight abrasion... He received the virus in the arm also.
1879 R. T. Smith St. Basil ix. 111 He it was who hollowed the minute sting of the bee to shed its virus through.
1909 Bedford (Pa.) Gaz. 11 June 8/3 I note that there is a quite a demand for snake virus. It can be procured by writing Caspar Pentz, Louray, Va. Price is $14,000 a pound.
1988 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 13 Sept. a11/3 Farmers cut the legs off woolen stockings to wear on wrists and forearms, for the virus of a snake bite would be absorbed by the woolen yarn.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > hatred > hostility > [noun]
unthankc893
witherwardnessc897
witherOE
wrakea1023
ungrithlOE
feythhed1297
grill13..
ill1303
unfriendshipa1340
enmity?a1400
feuda1400
despitec1400
unkindnessc1400
ingratitude1477
barrace1488
disfriendship1493
hostility1531
dislovea1533
adversation1543
diskindness1596
disaffection1599
ill blood1624
disaffectedness1625
inimicalness1651
unfriendlinessa1684
animus1795
inimicality1797
virus1866
negativism1977
1866 W. R. Alger Solitudes Nature & Man iv. 360 Two classes of men, however, he did hate with especial relish and virus.
2.
a. Medicine. Originally: pus or other discharge produced by an ulcer or wound. Later: a substance produced within the body by a disease, esp. when contagious or infectious or used for vaccination; (also) any agent causing an infectious disease. Now historical except in the restricted sense 2b.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [noun] > morbific principles
virusa1400
infection1539
seminary1604
fomes1660
fomite1860
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [noun] > agent or medium
infectiona1398
leavena1400
virusa1400
contagion1603
taint1623
fomes1800
conductor1807
infectant1832
zymin1842
contagium1870
noxa1872
pathogen1880
zyme1882
auto-infectant1887
insult1903
the world > life > biology > organism > micro-organism > virus > [noun]
virus1881
Machupo1965
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 80 (MED) If þe virus be wiþoute heete..waische it [sc. an ulcer] wiþ watir.
c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 101 (MED) Vlcus is an old wounde or a stynkynge, castynge out quytture or oþer vnclennesse, as virus, which ys seid sutil quytture or þinne.
1575 J. Banister Needefull Treat. Chyrurg. f. 8v But to saye at one woorde Sanies or Virus, is that thinne excrement in vlcers which continually moistneth them.
1597 P. Lowe Whole Course Chirurg. vii. i. sig. Y2 v It [sc. pus] is a kinde of sanie made of the nouriture, and superfluitie of the member tending to corruption by the alteration of the naturall heate, & debilitie of the member, out of the which cometh a member called virus & sordities.
1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. viii. i. 6 To eradicate the virus [of lues venerea] that it do not return with more malignity, is somewhat more difficult.
1678 G. Harvey Casus Medico-chirurgicus 28 So as to have received no prejudice from the ambient Air, or its own Gleet, which immediately turns into a Virus.
1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs II. 324/1 The venereal Virus consists in an Humour that is salt or acid, tartarous and gross, which fermenting by Degrees corrupts the Blood and other Humours, and causes all the ill Accidents that follow it.
1798 E. Jenner Causes Variolæ Vaccinæ (1801) 23 Cow-pox virus..renders the constitution unsusceptible of the variolous.
1800 W. Nicolson tr. J.-A.-C. Chaptal Elements Chem. (ed. 3) III. 402 Van Helmont asserts that a woman contracted an anthrax at the extremity of her fingers, in consequence of having touched papers impregnated with pestilential virus.
1850 Lancet 15 June 711/1 Undoubtedly it is by absorption into the blood..that the virus of scarlatina, of hydrophobia, of typhus, of syphilis, &c., obtain their power of infecting and injuring the whole economy.
1881 Sci. Amer. Suppl. 4 June 4516/1 M. Pasteur writes:..‘The virus is a microscopical parasite, which may be multiplied by cultivation outside of the body of an animal.’
1906 Philippine Jrnl. Sci. 1 583 The length of time during which the virus may remain viable in the soil and in stables is not determined.
1910 P. H. Hiss & H. Zinsser Text-bk. Bacteriol. xlvii. 639 Virus dried for eight days was no longer regularly infectious.
1940 Lancet 3 Aug. 141/1 The following definition is therefore proposed. Every agent of a transmissible disease will be called a virus (sensu lato); there are two sorts of virus, (1) viruses that can be seen with the microscope, and these are called microbes;..(2) viruses that cannot be seen with the microscope,..called, according to the rules of priority, contagia.
1977 S. S. Hughes Virus 112 The term ‘virus’ as used by bacteriologists of the 1880s and 1890s meant simply ‘an agent of infectious disease’. This is the usage in Pasteur's dictum: ‘Every virus is a microbe’.
b. Medicine and Biology. In early use more fully filterable virus, ultramicroscopic virus. An infectious, often pathogenic agent or biological entity which is typically smaller than a bacterium, which is able to function only within the living cells of a host animal, plant, or microorganism, and which consists of a nucleic acid molecule (either DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein coat, often with an outer lipid membrane.Viruses were originally distinguished from other pathogenic agents only by size, in that they could pass through filters that retained bacteria and could not be seen with the light microscope. Organisms such as mycoplasmas, which are also smaller than ordinary bacteria, would also have been included among the filterable viruses (cf. virus pneumonia n. at Compounds 2).herpes, mosaic, orphan, rabies virus, etc.: see the first element. See also adenovirus n., coronavirus n. 1, enterovirus n., myxovirus n., potyvirus n., retrovirus n., etc.
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1900 Jrnl. Compar. Pathol. & Therapeutics 13 16 The virus of foot-and-mouth disease passes through a Berkefeld filter when it is suspended in a watery liquid.
1915 Lancet 4 Dec. 1242/2 It is quite possible that an ultra-microscopic virus belongs somewhere in this vast field of life more lowly organised than the bacterium or amœba.
1928 Daily Tel. 10 July 9/4 Dr. Gye's theory of the causation of cancer by a filtrable virus.
1931 Nature 10 Oct. 599/2 But a few years ago I think that we should have had no difficulty in accepting three cardinal properties as characterising a virus, namely, invisibility by ordinary microscopic methods, failure to be retained by a filter fine enough to prevent the passage of all visible bacteria, and failure to propagate itself except in the presence of, and perhaps in the interior of, the cells which it infects.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. xxiv. 464 Some viruses have been isolated from the host, and all have proved to be some form of nucleic acid; they are of the nature of nucleo-proteins.
1960 D. C. Braungart & R. Buddeke Introd. Animal Biol. (ed. 5) ii. 25 There are some particles smaller than any known cell, the viruses, which are regarded by some biologists as being alive.
1963 J. H. Burn Drugs, Med. & Man xix. 188 One view is that these cells contain a virus and the cancer begins when the virus is no longer kept under control.
1984 M. J. Taussig Processes in Pathol. & Microbiol. (ed. 2) iii. 348 After the bite and deposition of saliva of an infected animal, the virus multiplies locally in the wound for a few days.
2006 Seed Sept. 21/1 There is a general feeling that the extinction of anything—save a few lethal viruses, perhaps—is to be avoided.
c. colloquial. A virus infection.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > bacterial or viral disorders > [noun] > viral disorders
virosis1927
Bornholm disease1933
rickettsialpox1946
virus1950
chikungunya1954
West Nile1960
Ross River1973
CV1985
SARS2003
corona2019
C-192020
Covid2020
Covid-192020
CV-192020
1950 Portland Press Herald (Maine) 7 Apr. 14/6 Today was another damp and slushy one, and while Bobby was much better, John was really hitting the peak of his bout with the virus.
1954 C. S. Lewis Lett. to Amer. Lady (1969) 24 We mustn't let these modern doctors get us down by calling a cold a virus and a sore throat a streptococcus.
1988 G. Naylor Mama Day 259 At first it felt as if I had a virus: the achiness in my head, the fever.
1997 New Yorker 29 Sept. 64/1 The doctor said she had a virus that was reacting differently with the reagents.
d. Computing. A program or piece of code which when executed causes itself to be copied into other locations, and which is therefore capable of propagating itself within the memory of a computer or across a network, usually with deleterious results; = computer virus n.; spec. one capable of being inserted in other programs (cf. worm n. Additions).
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society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [noun] > virus
virus1972
worm1975
computer virus1984
malware1990
society > computing and information technology > programming language > program or code > [adjective] > virus or malicious code
virus1972
worm1975
1972 ‘D. Gerrold’ When Harlie was One 175 You know what a virus is, don't you?.. The virus program does the same thing.
1975 J. Brunner Shockwave Rider ii. 176 I'd have written the worm as an explosive scrambler, probably about half a million bits long, with a backup virus facility and a last-ditch infinitely replicating tail.
1989 Accountancy June 148/4 The..Centre will also diagnose any disks sent in by users for any viruses.
2006 Computer Weekly 17 Oct. 24/1 But moving to a converged network also has a downside. If you get hit with a..major virus or worm attack, for instance, all the applications on the converged network could be affected.
3. figurative and in figurative contexts (esp. in sense 2): a harmful or corrupting influence; (a form of) moral or intellectual perniciousness. Also in weakened use: a phenomenon liable to spread rapidly and pervasively.
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the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > corruption > [noun] > cause of
corrumpciona1340
corruptiona1340
ordurec1390
ulcer1592
taint1623
corruptive1641
depravation1711
virus1778
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > degrading or impairing morally > [noun] > corrupting > infection > infecting influence
contagionc1386
gleimc1394
lepera1400
taint1623
contagium1654
virus1778
the mind > emotion > fear > nervousness or uneasiness > [noun] > uneasiness or anxiety > infectious fear or anxiety
virus1982
1778 J. Warner in J. H. Jesse G. Selwyn & his Contemp. (1844) III. 317 Venice is a stink-pot, charged with the very virus of hell!
1790 J. Whitaker Mary Queen of Scots Vindicated (rev. ed.) I. i. 22 There religion united with polity... And, in such a situation, this infused virus of the heart would work, and ferment, and discharge itself, with a very extraordinary violence.
1807 R. Southey Acct. Life White in H. K. White Remains I. 12 As if there were not enough of the leaven of disquietude in our natures, without inoculating it with this dilutement—this vaccine virus of envy.
c1819 Coleridge's Lect. 1808–1819 on Lit. (1987) II. 327 The corrosive Virus which inoculates Pride with a venom not its own.
a1884 M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 239 The clerical virus would have lingered in the system.
1912 W. E. Weyl New Democracy 104 The virus of corruption runs through the party.
1946 M. Hadas tr. I. Elbogen Cent. Jewish Life ii. ii 167 It was a best seller and spread the virus of racialist contagion among the cultured classes.
1982 Economist 25 Dec. 83/1 The virus quickly spread. First Canada extracted a promise of restraint from Japan. Then West Germany's mercurial economics minister..hastened to Tokyo.
1991 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Sept. 238/3 It may be that Drabble's most recent novels have suffered critical drubbing because they are infected with the Shavian virus.
2003 Observer 29 June (Review section) 4/5 Marketeers regard buzz as a virus that we, the consumers, transmit.
Compounds
C1. (In sense 2.)
a. General attributive.
virus disease n.
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1860 W. T. Fox in Trans. Obstetr. Soc. 2 228 This latter action is alike common to all forms of virus disease.
1926 Jrnl. Trop. Med. & Hygiene 29 19/2 The intricate processes involved in ‘virus’ diseases of plants and vertebrates.
2003 Attitude Dec. 91/1 HIV is short for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and is an incurable virus disease that attacks the human immune system.
virus infection n.
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1924 Jrnl. Exper. Med. 40 773 (title) A filterable virus infection of rabbits.
1952 F. O'Connor Let. July in Habit of Being (1980) 39 I saw my doctor... He said I had a virus infection and it had reacted on my complaint.
2001 Independent 16 Aug. ii. 9/4 Fifth disease is a mild virus infection caused by human parvovirus B19.
virus particle n.
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1926 Sci. Monthly Nov. 410/1 It is also possible to determine the size of the infective virus particle.
1968 Brit. Med. Bull. 24 244/2 They [sc. the results] are consistent with the inactivation of a virus particle by a single interaction with radiation.
2001 D. MacCall et al. Introd. Microbiol. ix. 100 Virus particles that do not have an envelope are composed of only the capsid and nucleic acid. They are called..naked viruses.
virus strain n.
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1928 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 102 364 They were then inoculated on the skin with dilutions..of fowl-pox virus strains A, B and C.]
1930 Lancet 31 May 1174/2 (heading) Properties of the virus strains as revealed by experiments on mice.
1976 A. Gibbs & B. Harrison Plant Virology xv. 226/1 The use of tomato plants containing a single gene for tolerance to TMV resulted in the selection and rapid spread of virus strains virulent for the plants.
2003 Wired Jan. 91/1 To combat this notorious shape-shifting ability, VaxGen uses sieving—a process for determining which antigens produce antibodies capable of neutralizing which virus strains.
b. Instrumental, parasynthetic, and objective.
virus-carried adj. rare
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1958 Times 12 June 11/3 The great diversity of virus-carried diseases. Influenza, poliomyelitis, cholera, Australian Q-fever, [etc.].
virus-containing adj.
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1879 W. Williams Princ. & Pract. Vet. Med. (ed. 2) xxvi. 312 When subsequently inoculated with virus-containing matter, they became smitten with the disease.
1933 K. M. Smith Rec. Adv. Study Plant Viruses viii. 194 The second method of artificial virus transmission is that of inoculation, using this term in its restricted sense of actual application of the virus-containing sap to the plant tissue.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 25 Jan. a19 People were thought to have been infected by breathing an infectious dust stirred up when chickens, whose feathers were contaminated with virus-containing feces, were taken flapping from their cages.
virus-free adj.
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1925 Lancet 18 July 134/1 When injected together with virus-free extracts of tumours the virus produces a malignant new growth.
1946 Nature 26 Oct. 569/2 The great work of East Malling Research Station in raising and distributing virus-free clonal stocks.
2000 ‘Dr. K.’ Compl. Hacker's Handbk. x. 144 Once you have your anti-virus package, make sure that your machine is virus-free before installing the package.
virus-induced adj.
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1935 Lancet 2 Mar. 505/1 (heading) Carcinomatous changes in a virus-induced papilloma.
1984 D. A. Roberts & C. W. Boothroyd Fund. Plant Pathol. (ed. 2) iii. 35 Mosaic, a chlorotic symptom of many virus-induced diseases, is an uneven color development.
2006 Today's Parent (Canada) Oct. 49/1 Parents of regular spit-uppers can recognize virus-induced vomiting—it will show up at other times than after feeding.
virus-infected adj.
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1930 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 17 348 (title) The total nitrogen and carbohydrates, and the relative rates of respiration, in virus-infected plants.
1984 M. J. Taussig Processes in Pathol. & Microbiol. (ed. 2) iii. 249 The molecule of central importance in the induction of α and β interferons in virus-infected cells is double-stranded (ds) RNA.
2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 8 Feb. 8/2 The trick helps them use virus-infected ‘zombie’ computers to send spam messages without giving away their exact address so it cannot be added to anti-spam black lists.
virus-specific adj.
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1937 Q. Rev. Biol. 12 300/2 It appears from the foregoing facts that the crystalline tobacco mosaic protein and the antigen responsible for the virus-specific precipitin tests are the same thing.
1965 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 54 381 Such tumors have the virus-specific antigen(s) characteristic of that produced by SV40 virus.
2006 D. Salomon Found. Computer Security vi. 148 Virus-specific detection methods..look for and identify specific viruses. Most anti-virus software operates this way.
C2.
virus pneumonia n. pneumonia caused by a virus or (esp. in early use) a mycoplasma.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorder of respiratory organs > [noun] > disorders of lungs > pneumonia > types of pneumonia
typho-pneumonia1854
broncho-pneumonia1858
walking pneumonia1888
virus pneumonia1936
pneumocystis pneumonia1956
PCP1975
Legion disease1976
legionnaires' disease1976
1929 Public Health Rep. (U.S. Public Health Service) 44 2635 (heading) Vaccine virus pneumonia in rabbits.]
1936 Lancet 21 Mar. 653/2 In mice lesions are as a rule restricted to the central nervous system, though occasionally in the lungs there is evidence of a virus pneumonia.
1945 Daily News-Times (Burlington, N. Carolina) 1 Nov. 20/1 Virus pneumonia is also known as atypical pneumonia because of its irregular course and symptoms.
2004 J. Parker Secrets of Cent. v. 92 By mid-July, Nixon's health was breaking down, perhaps under the strain, with a case of virus pneumonia.
Derivatives
ˈvirus-like adj.
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1929 Lancet 23 Mar. 617/2 This hypothesis has been especially fostered by the study of two virus-like agents.
1972 Science 16 June 1225/2 Electron microscopy initially revealed that HBAg consists of virus-like particles approximately 20 nanometers in diameter.
2002 M. Sipper Machine Nature viii. 146 One approach is to monitor the computer for viruslike behavior, looking for suspicious-looking programs or ones that seem to have been modified.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.a1398