bacillus

[ buh-sil-uhs ]
See synonyms for: bacillusbacilli on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural ba·cil·li [buh-sil-ahy]. /bəˈsɪl aɪ/.
  1. any rod-shaped or cylindrical bacterium of the genus Bacillus, comprising spore-producing bacteria.

  2. (formerly) any bacterium.

Origin of bacillus

1
1880–85; <Late Latin, variant of Latin bacillum (diminutive of baculum) staff, walking stick

Words Nearby bacillus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bacillus in a sentence

  • It, or a similar bacillus, is sometimes found in the sputum of gangrene of the lung.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • Ordinarily, no attempt is made to identify any but the tubercle bacillus and the gonococcus.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • The great majority belong to the colon bacillus group, and are negative to Gram's method of staining.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • This will show all bacteria except the tubercle bacillus, and often no other stain is necessary for their identification.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for bacillus

bacillus

/ (bəˈsɪləs) /


nounplural -cilli (-ˈsɪlaɪ)
  1. any rod-shaped bacterium, such as a clostridium bacterium: Compare coccus (def. 2), spirillum (def. 1)

  2. any of various rodlike spore-producing bacteria constituting the family Bacillaceae, esp of the genus Bacillus

Origin of bacillus

1
C19: from Latin: a small staff, from baculum walking stick

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bacillus

bacillus

[ bə-sĭləs ]


Plural bacilli (bə-sĭlī′)
  1. Any of various pathogenic bacteria, especially one that is rod-shaped.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.