Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- A name given by Otho Fr. Müller to an indiscriminate assemblage of minute, and for the most part microscopic, animal and vegetable organisms frequently developed in infusions of decaying organic substances.
- A class of minute, mostly microscopic, animalcules, provisionally regarded as the highest class of Protozoa.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun plural (Zoöl.) One of the classes of Protozoa, including a large number of species, all of minute size. Formerly, the term was applied to any microbe found in infusions of decaying organic material, but the term is now applied more specifically to one of the classes of the phylum Ciliophora, of ciliated protozoans.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology The many
minute aquatic creatures , such asprotozoa andunicellular algae found in fresh waterhabitats
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun in some recent classifications, coextensive with the Ciliata: minute organisms found in decomposing infusions of organic matter
Etymologies
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Examples
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The microscope revealed the complexity of organic tissues, the existence of minute creatures, vaguely called infusoria, and the strange inhabitants of the blood, the red and white corpuscles.
The Mind in the Making The Relation of Intelligence to Social Reform James Harvey Robinson 1899
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There are certain minute animal productions called infusoria and organisms peculiar to each portion of the globe.
A Voyage round the World A book for boys William Henry Giles Kingston 1847
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In 1838, Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg gave a description of the finer structure of the "infusoria" but it was Ferdinad Cohn, who in 1854 first ascertained with certainty that bacteria belonged to the vegetable kingdom.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913
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It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same.
The War of The Worlds H. G. Wells 2009
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It proves the presence of decomposing organic matter in the water — it is full of infusoria.
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Were it only by the identity of the law, the evolution of the comet in the firmament to the whirling of the infusoria in the drop of water.
Les Miserables 2008
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It proves the presence of decomposing organic matter in the water — it is full of infusoria.
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Furthermore, it has been found that experiments made in the manner described above answer well with most infusions; but that if you fill the vessel with boiled milk, and then stop the neck with cotton-wool, you ‘will’ have infusoria.
Essays 2007
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These experiments, you see, all tended towards one conclusion — that the infusoria were developed from little minute spores or eggs which were constantly floating in the atmosphere, which lose their power of germination if subjected to heat.
Essays 2007
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It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same.
The War Of The Worlds by H. G. Wells | Solar Flare: Science Fiction News 2005
andystardust commented on the word infusoria
"It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same."
- H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds
December 23, 2008
biocon commented on the word infusoria
When this term is a taxonomic category (the vast majority of cases cited here), its first letter is capitalized (Infusoria).
July 6, 2013
qms commented on the word infusoria
Oh sing out Hosannah! and Gloria!;
Surrender to springtime euphoria!
The world is new rife
With infinite life -
Great mammals to least infusoria!
March 2, 2019
bilby commented on the word infusoria
Makes me think of unknown detritus floating in tea.
March 5, 2019