Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various characteristically bluish-green fungi of the genus Penicillium that grow as molds on decaying fruits and ripening cheese and are used in the production of antibiotics such as penicillin and in making cheese.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of saprophytic fungi of the class Ascomycetes, the well-known blue-molds, that are abundant on decaying bread and numerous other decaying substances.
  • noun [l. c] In zoology, same as pencil, 7.

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

  • noun Any of the blue-green fungi, of the genus Penicillium, that are an important source of antibiotics.

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

  • noun genus of fungi commonly growing as green or blue molds on decaying food; used in making cheese and as a source of penicillin

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Pēnicillium, genus name, from Latin pēnicillus, brush; see pencil.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the genus name.

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Examples

  • The first thing I learned was that to make penicillin, you have to grow a mold called penicillium.

    Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Gets Slimed! Frances O’Roark Dowell 2007

  • The first thing I learned was that to make penicillin, you have to grow a mold called penicillium.

    Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Gets Slimed! Frances O’Roark Dowell 2007

  • There are tens of thousands of brilliant biological researchers out there, but only Fleming had the wit to cause penicillium notatum to float in the window.

    Two Kinds of Innovation 2009

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

  • The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.

    Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up! Marshall P. Duke 2010

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