Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Pl. cocci (-sī). In botany: One of the separate divisions of a schizocarp, or dry lobed pericarp which splits up into one-seeded cells. Also called coccule.
  • noun In certain Hepaticæ, the old spore mother-cell, whose walls persist after the maturity of the spores, holding them together.
  • noun plural In bacteria, isolated spherical or nearly spherical cells, especially those of the genus Micrococcus, as distinguished from the rodlets or bacilli of other genera.
  • noun [capitalized] The typical genus of the family Coccidæ, in which ordinary sexual reproduction takes place.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) One of the separable carpels of a dry fruit.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A genus of hemipterous insects, including scale insects, and the cochineal insect (Coccus cacti).
  • noun (Biol.) A form of bacteria, shaped like a globule.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any spherical or nearly spherical bacteria

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