Definitions

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

  • noun Any of a genus of double-stranded DNA viruses that are the largest of all known viruses.

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

  • noun A virus, of the genus Mimivirus, associated with some amoebas; it has a very large capsid and complex genome

Etymologies

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

[From mimicking microbe (since it is as large as the smallest known bacteria and was thought to be a bacterium when first discovered).]

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