virus
vi.rus \'vi--r*s\ n [L, slimy liquid, poison, stench; akin to OE wa-se
marsh, Gk ios] poison, Skt vissub-dot>a; in senses 2 & 4, fr. NL, fr. L
archaic 1: VENOM 2a: the causative agent of an infectious disease 2b:
FILTERABLE VIRUS; specif : any of a large group of submic roscopic
infective agents that are held by some to be living organisms and by others
to be complex protein molecules containing nucleic acids and comparable to
genes, that are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells,
and that cause various important diseases in man, lower animals, or plants
2c: a disease caused by a filterable virus 3: something that poisons the
mind or soul 4: an antigenic but not infective material (as vaccine lymph)
obtainable fr om a case of an infectious disease