inoculate
/ɪˈnɒkjʊleɪt
/verb [with object]
1Treat with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease; vaccinate: he inoculated his tenants against smallpox...
- Troops were inoculated against expected infectious diseases as well as two agents of biological warfare - anthrax and botulinum toxin.
- Army doctors have started inoculating villagers against disease.
- I'll rest easier knowing I'm inoculated against eradicated diseases like Smallpox.
Synonyms
immunize, vaccinate, inject;
protect from, shield from, safeguard from
informal give someone a jab, give someone a shot
1.1Introduce (an infective agent) into an organism: the micro-organism can be inoculated into laboratory animals...
- In lymphatic filariasis, infective larvae are inoculated by mosquitoes; adult worms are found in lymph nodes or adjacent lymphatics, and offspring circulate in the blood, often only at night.
- Given their effects on soybean plants, it is hypothesized that the PGPR strains exert their influence via the production of specific compounds after they have been inoculated into plant rhizospheres.
- Organisms obtained from these animals, when inoculated into uninfected animals, proved to be unresponsive to atovaquone therapy, suggesting the emergence of drug resistance.
1.2Introduce (cells or organisms) into a culture medium: 0.5 ml of the specimen was inoculated into each tissue culture flask...
- For initial qualitative screening of elevated mutation frequencies in isolates, a single colony of each isolate to be tested was inoculated into 4 ml Luria broth.
- A purified colony was inoculated into 5 ml of broth and grown overnight before plating dilutions onto LB plates supplemented with 50 g/ml thymidine.
- White colonies were inoculated into 96-well plates.
Derivatives
inoculable
/ adjective ...- The article covers a probable impact of global changes on the distribution of bloodsucking arthropods as the vectors of inoculable disease agents.
- In England, the increase of inoculable diseases was 20 per cent., notwithstanding an expenditure of 200 millions sterling since 1850 in sanitary works.
inoculative
/ adjective ...- But the point is, when I was about to make some horrible homophobic announcement, I'd invariably come out with the big inoculative lie, ‘Some of my best friends are gay!’
- In a few species the cocoons built for winter contribute to cold hardiness, at least by preventing inoculative freezing by keeping ice crystals away from the surface of the body.
- Early approaches to media education were typically inoculative.
inoculator
/ noun ...- Mick had left a skilled job as a juvenile-salmon inoculator.
- In that great day there won't be any doctors anymore, nothing but inoculators - and here and there a perishing undertaker.
- Money allowed them to purchase the services of inoculators.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'graft a bud or shoot into a different plant'): from Latin inoculat- 'engrafted', from the verb inoculare, from in- 'into' + oculus 'eye, bud'. The sense 'vaccinate' dates from the early 18th century.
Originally inoculation was a task of gardeners rather than of doctors and nurses. To inoculate something was to graft a bud or shoot into a plant of a different type. This corresponds to its Latin source inoculare ‘to graft’, from in- ‘into’ and oculus ‘eye, bud’ (as in binocular (early 18th century) and ocular (late 16th century)). The horticultural sense dates from the late Middle Ages. As a medical procedure people could inoculate a person from the early 18th century—its first uses referred to the treatment of smallpox. See also vaccine
Rhymes
- majority leader
- majority rule
- Majority Socialist
- majority verdict
- majorization
- majorize
- major junior
- major league
- major-leaguer
- majorly
- major medical
- Major Mitchell
- majormitchell
- Major of the Palace
- majoron
- major penalty
- major piece
- major planet
- major player
- major premiss
- major prophet
- major road
- majorship
- Major, Sir John
- major suit