Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A virus that infects and lyses certain bacteria.

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

  • noun a virus which infects bacteria; -- also colloquially called phage in laboratory jargon.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun microbiology, virology A virus that specifically infects bacteria.

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

  • noun a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from French bactériophage, coined by microbiologist Félix d'Hérelle, from bacterio- (“bacteria”) + -phage (“eater”).

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