释义 |
‖ bacillus Nat. Hist.|bəˈsɪləs| Pl. bacilli. [late L. (in Isidore), ‘little rod,’ dim. of baculus, variant of baculum rod, stick.] A genus of Schizomycetæ, microscopic vegetable organisms of the lowest grade among what were once called Infusoria. Separated from Bacterium, with which it agrees in its rod-like form, and characterized by its larger size and mode of reproduction. First described by Müller ante 1850; recently brought into note by the discovery of some of the species in the diseased tissues in Anthrax, and in Phthisis and other tubercular diseases. Freq. in fig. use.
1883H. J. Slack in Knowledge 1 June 322/1 Dr. B. Yeo estimates these bacilli as from a quarter to half a blood corpuscle in length. 1884Lankester in Pall Mall G. 6 Oct. 2/2 The bacillus found in the lungs and expectorations of phthisical patients. 1897‘Mark Twain’ Foll. Equat. li. 494 Twenty million priests, fakeers, holy mendicants, and other sacred bacilli. 1905W. Lee-Warner in Anti-Slavery Reporter June–July 63 We must not allow this bacillus of slavery to take a more virulent form. 1907Jewish Chron. 15 Mar. 19/1, I refer to the existence of anti-Semitic bacilli which poison the whole air of Russia. 1918A. Gray tr. Grelling's The Crime II. ii. 145 They found a fostering soil..on which the bacillus of war could develop unhindered. |