colicin

[ kol-uh-sin ]

noun

, Pharmacology.

1. any bacteriocin produced by certain strains of Escherichia coli and having a lethal effect on strains other than the producing strain.

Word History and Origins

Origin of colicin¹

1945–50; < French colicine, equivalent to coli- ( coliform ) + -cine, probably extracted from names of antibiotics ending in -mycine -mycin

Example Sentences

She say I didn' need to learn nothin' 'cept how to count so's I could feed de mules widout colicin' 'em.

From Project Gutenberg