Definitions

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

  • noun A synthetic antibiotic related to penicillin, C17H19N2O6NaS, used to treat infections caused by staphylococci that produce beta-lactamase and are therefore resistant to beta-lactam penicillin drugs. It has largely been replaced by newer synthetic penicillin drugs that act similarly, such as dicloxacillin.

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

  • noun pharmacology An antibiotic drug, chemically related to penicillin, often used against strains of bacteria which have become resistant to penicillin.

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

  • noun antibiotic drug of the penicillin family used in the treatment of certain staphylococcal infections

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Blend of methoxy- (meth– + oxy–) and penicillin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

methi- +‎ -cilin

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