VIRUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Virus

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/vˈaɪrəs/ Listen

noun

Virus n.

1.

(Med.) Contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers, the bite of snakes, etc.; applied to organic poisons. (Archaic)

2.

The causative agent of a disease,. (obsolescent)

3.

Any of numerous submicroscopic complex organic objects which have genetic material and may be considered as living organisms but have no proper cell membrane, and thus cannot by themselves perform metabolic processes, requiring entry into a host cell in order to multiply. The simplest viruses have no lipid envelope and may be considered as complex aggregates of molecules, sometimes only a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a coat protein. They are sometimes viewed as being on the borderline between living and nonliving objects. They are smaller than living cells in size, usually between 20 and 300 nm; thus they pass through standard filters, and were previously referred to as filterable virus. The manifestations of disease caused by multiplication of viruses in cells may be due to destruction of the cells caused by subversion of the cellular metabolic processes by the virus, or by synthesis of a virus-specific toxin. Viruses may infect animals, plants, or microorganisms; those infecting bacteria are also called bacteriophages. Certain bacteriophages may be non-destructive and benign in the host; see bacteriophage.

4.

Fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral conditions; something that poisons the mind or the soul; as, the virus of obscene books.

5.

(Computers) A program or segment of program code that may make copies of itself (replicate), attach itself to other programs, and perform unwanted actions within a computer; also called computer virus or virus program. Such programs are almost always introduced into a computer without the knowledge or assent of its owner, and are often malicious, causing destructive actions such as erasing data on disk, but sometime only annoying, causing peculiar objects to appear on the display. The form of sociopathic mental disease that causes a programmer to write such a program has not yet been given a name. Compare trojan horse (3).

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Etymology of 'Virus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Virus" Quotes from Famous Books

... not go into camp on the price-list. Having purchased my bacon and eggs, I like to move along to where my friend is sitting, and hear him tell of his experiences with glaciers and icebergs, and so become inoculated with the world-enlarging virus. Or, if he comes in to share my bacon and eggs, these mundane delights lose none of their flavor by being garnished with conversation on Andean themes. I'm glad to have my friend push that greatest of monuments, "The ...

— Reveries of a Schoolmaster • Francis B. Pearson

... to find a stopping-place. Some of the facts or accepted conclusions already referred to, and several others, of a more general character, which must be taken into the account, impel the theory onward with accumulated force. Vires (not to say virus) acquirit eundo. The theory hitches on wonderfully well to Lyells uniformitarian theory in geology—that the thing that has been is the thing that is and shall be—that the natural operations now going on will account for all geological changes in a quiet and easy way, only give ...

— Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays • Thomas H. Huxley

... Saint Virus' dance (chorea) is a peculiar disorder seen in nervous children, and which usually clears up in a few weeks or months under proper treatment. It is characterized by irregular jerkings pretty much all over the body, so that the child staggers as he walks, ...

— The Mother and Her Child • William S. Sadler

... disease] pathology, etiology, nosology[obs3]. [Veterinary] anthrax, bighead; blackleg, blackquarter[obs3]; cattle plague, glanders[obs3], mange, scrapie, milk sickness; heartworm, feline leukemia, roundworms; quarter-evil, quarter-ill; rinderpest. [disease-causing agents] virus, bacterium, bacteria. [types of viruses] DNA virus; RNA virus. [RNA viruses] rhinovirus; rhabdovirus; picornavirus. [DNA viruses] herpesvirus; cytomegalovirus, CMV; human immunodefficiency virus, HIV. V. be ill &c. adj.; ...

— Roget's Thesaurus

... a painter. Aubrey Barstowe, author of The Soul's Eclipse and other poems, was a constant member of the crowd. A youth of insinuating manners, he had appealed to Mrs Keith from the start; and unfortunately the virus had extended to Elsa. Many a pleasant, sunshiny Thursday afternoon had been poisoned for Martin by the sight of Aubrey and Elsa together on a distant settee, matching temperaments. The rest is too painful. It was a rout. The poet did not shoot, so that when Martin returned of ...

— The Man Upstairs and Other Stories • P. G. Wodehouse

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