A group or genus of bacterioid or schizomycetous organisms characterized by vibratory motion; a member of this genus; spec. in Bacteriology, a form…

†(a) A small germ or seed postulated as an elementary precursor to a living organism; spec. that of the causative agent of cholera. Obsolete. (b) Any…

= microzyma, n. Also: a bacterium.

A genus or group of bacteria characterized by a spiral structure; any member of this genus, esp. the species found in the blood in relapsing fever.

(a name for) unbranched chains of spherical or rod-like bacteria (cf. leptothrix n. at lepto-, comb._form affix).

‘a fungus belonging to the Order Schizomycetes, consisting of very thin and long, indistinctly segmented, straight threads’ (New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon…

a genus of bacteria having a highly twisted spiral form; in modern use, any bacterium of the order Spirochætales, comprising actively motile…

A form of bacterial organism in which the cocci are arranged in chains or chaplets.

A genus of Gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic bacteria with rod-shaped and branching filamentous forms, which form part of the normal mucosal…

A substance or thing that resembles the spawn of frogs in being gelatinous or slimy. In sugar refining: the Gram-positive lactic acid bacterium Leuco…

a microscopic organism multiplying by fission, akin to Schizomycetes.

(plural) a group of microscopic, rod-like, unicellular organisms, multiplying by fission, variously known as bacteria, microbes, etc.; rarely in…

The bacterium that causes gonorrhoea, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which is a Gram-negative diplococcus. Cf. Neisseria, n.

A bacterium inhabiting putrid matter.

Bacteriology. A vibrio or vibrioid bacterium.

Any individual bacterium of a group including the family Micrococcaceæ and characterized by a spherical or nearly spherical shape.

Any coccus that occurs predominantly in pairs, esp. one belonging to the genus of parasitic bacteria so called, which includes the pneumococcus, D.…

(plural) bacteria linked together like a chain.

A large genus of anærobic or micro-ærophilic bacteria that are typically spindle-shaped because of the presence of an endospore, many species of…

With plural agreement. Rod-shaped or filamentous Gram-positive bacteria belonging to a diverse group having a tendency to form branching colonies…

Originally: the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae (Friedländer's bacillus), which is an opportunistic pathogen causing pneumonia and other infections…

A form of pus-producing bacteria composed of cocci grouped in irregular masses.

any of various bacteria, living esp. in fresh water, which obtain energy by oxidizing ferrous salts to insoluble ferric hydroxide.

Zoology. An amoeba. Also more fully Proteus animalcule, †Proteus insect. Now historical.

= iron bacterium n. at iron, n.1 compounds 2.

The bacterium Neisseria meningitidis, a Gram-negative coccus that causes an infectious form of meningitis, and sometimes septicaemia, affecting…

Any bacterium of the genus Rhizobium (family Rhizobiaceae), comprising aerobic, Gram-negative, typically rod-shaped bacteria which invade the root…

(pl.) (see quot. 1890).

Any nitrifying bacterium; esp. one of the genus Nitrobacter, which oxidizes nitrites to nitrates. Usually in plural.

A genus of bacteria, comprising organisms having branching filaments growing in interlacing masses; a micro-organism of this genus or type.

any of the bacteria which derive their energy from the oxidation of sulphur or inorganic compounds of sulphur.

Originally (in form Myxobacter): a genus of slime-producing bacteria having rod-like spores (now historical). Later: = myxobacterium, n.

A genus of myxobacteria having slender, tapering vegetative cells and spherical or oval encapsulated resting cells (microcysts) that are not…

(see quot. 1968).

Shortened form of Bacillus coli or Bacterium coli: a bacterium, now called Escherichia coli, inhabiting the colon or gut of man and animals; usually…

A genus of bacteria (family Pasterellaceae) comprising small, Gram-negative, usually aerobic, rod-shaped or coccoid forms which are parasites of…

Medicine. A pyrogen; spec. a pyrogenic bacterial toxin. Now rare.

In the genitive and attributive. Designating the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, which is a major cause of food poisoning…

any of various bacteria of the suborder Rhodospirillineae and allied groups, which contain a purple photoactive pigment.

Any member of the order Myxococcales (also called Myxobacterales), comprising rod-shaped, motile, slime-secreting bacteria that are capable of…

A bacterium of the genus Pseudomonas (family Pseudomonadaceae), which comprises chemoautotrophic, Gram-negative, usually rod-shaped cells…

name proposed by Migula for sulphur and iron bacteria mostly found in seawater and soils.

An anærobic spirochæte of the genus of this name, the members of which are parasitic or pathogenic in man and warm-blooded animals and include those…

A bacterium of the genus of this name, which includes the diphtheria bacillus and other animal and plant pathogens and parasites, the individuals…

Any member of the genus Mycobacterium (family Mycobacteriaceae) of acid-fast, aerobic bacilli, many of which are free-living in soil and water but…

A member of the genus of pathogenic, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria so called, which includes some causing food poisoning, typhoid, and…

A genus of Gram-negative, aerobic diplococci, chiefly comprising commensal inhabitants of the mucous membranes of humans and other mammals, but…

The bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which is a Gram-positive, spore-forming anaerobe widely distributed in soil and in freshwater and marine…

Any of the small Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Rickettsia or, more widely, of the order Rickettsiales, which are intracellular parasites and…

Any bacterium of the genus Leptospira (family Treponemataceæ), structurally similar to the genus Spirochæta and consisting of a few species…

(In form Acetobacter) a genus of gram-negative aerobic bacteria which oxidize ethanol to acetic acid, and are typically found as a film or skin on…

A genus of small, Gram-negative, non-motile coccoid or rod-shaped bacteria which are parasites and pathogens of various species of mammal, esp…

Any of various bacteria belonging to the genus Pseudomonas or to other genera now or formerly classified in the family Pseudomonadaceae or the order…

= streptococcus, n. (frequently attributive).

Originally: any of various bacilli that inhabit the intestines of animals. In later use: any bacterium of the family Enterobacteriaceae, the members…

Medicine. An opportunistic organism (cf. opportunistic, adj. 3).

A genus of bacteria of the order Eubacteriales, comprising Gram-positive anaerobic bacilli found in the intestines of vertebrates and in soil and…

A bacterium of the genus Agrobacterium, which includes Gram-negative aerobic rods found in soil, several of which cause plant galls; also (in form Agr…

Microbiology. A bacterium which continues to live in the presence of enough antibiotic to kill almost all members of its species.

A genus of Gram-negative bacteria (family Neisseriaceae) inhabiting the mucous membranes of mammals and causing infections of the middle ear…

Any of the bacteria that inhabit the intestines of humans and other animals; (more generally) any bacterium of the family Enterobacteriaceae (cf…

A bacterium of the genus Streptomyces, which belongs in the family Streptomycetaceæ of spore-forming, mould-like bacteria and comprises aerobic…

= leptospira, n.

(a) A transformed bacterium (see transform, v. 1f). (b) = transformed cell n. at transformed, adj. b.

A lysogenic bacterium, phage, or prophage.

Any bacterium of the genus Listeria, formerly called Listerella, esp. L. monocytogenes which is a widespread pathogen of man and animals.

Frequently italicized. The Gram-positive, anaerobic, toxin-producing bacterium Clostridium difficile, which is a frequent cause of…

A bacterium of the genus Yersinia (formerly included in Pasteurella), which includes Gram-negative rods that are facultative anærobes present in…

A genus of microaerophilic bacteria including curved and spiral forms that frequently cause food poisoning in humans and abortion in some farm…

Any member of a group of organisms (now the phylum Cyanobacteria), comprising Gram-negative bacteria that carry out oxygen-producing…

A coryneform organism.

Chiefly in plural eubacteria. Any prokaryotic organism which is regarded as belonging to the group of ‘true bacteria’, currently taken to…

Any bacterium of the genus Legionella, the members of which are motile Gram-negative rods which typically live in water, and are capable of…

Any anaerobic autotrophic bacterium that produces acetates by metabolism of simple carbon compounds.

= C. difficile, n.

= acidophilus, n.