| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| bacillus |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ba·cil·lus |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b -s l s |
| NOUN: | Inflected forms: pl. ba·cil·li (-sl  )
1. Any of various rod-shaped, spore-forming, aerobic bacteria of the genus Bacillus that often occur in chains and include B. anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax. 2. Any of various bacteria, especially a rod-shaped bacterium. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Late Latin, diminutive of Latin baculum, rod. See bak- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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