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Germ   /dʒərm/   Listen
noun
Germ  n.  
1.
(Biol.) That which is to develop a new individual; as, the germ of a fetus, of a plant or flower, and the like; the earliest form under which an organism appears. "In the entire process in which a new being originates... two distinct classes of action participate; namely, the act of generation by which the germ is produced; and the act of development, by which that germ is evolved into the complete organism."
2.
That from which anything springs; origin; first principle; as, the germ of civil liberty.
3.
(Biol.) The germ cells, collectively, as distinguished from the somatic cells, or soma. Germ is often used in place of germinal to form phrases; as, germ area, germ disc, germ membrane, germ nucleus, germ sac, etc.
4.
A microorganism, especially a disease-causing bacterium or virus; used informally, as, the don't eat food that falls on the floor, it may have germs on it.
Disease germ (Biol.), a name applied to certain tiny bacterial organisms or their spores, such as Anthrax bacillus and the Micrococcus of fowl cholera, which have been demonstrated to be the cause of certain diseases; same as germ (4). See Germ theory (below).
Germ cell (Biol.), the germ, egg, spore, or cell from which the plant or animal arises. At one time a part of the body of the parent, it finally becomes detached, and by a process of multiplication and growth gives rise to a mass of cells, which ultimately form a new individual like the parent. See Ovum.
Germ gland. (Anat.) See Gonad.
Germ stock (Zool.), a special process on which buds are developed in certain animals. See Doliolum.
Germ theory (Biol.), the theory that living organisms can be produced only by the evolution or development of living germs or seeds. See Biogenesis, and Abiogenesis. As applied to the origin of disease, the theory claims that the zymotic diseases are due to the rapid development and multiplication of various bacteria, the germs or spores of which are either contained in the organism itself, or transferred through the air or water. See Fermentation theory.



verb
Germ  v. i.  To germinate. (R.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Germ" Quotes from Famous Books



... may inquire, what control, salutary or otherwise, we can exercise over the skin in reference to its eruption, by adopting certain methods in medicine and hygeine, during the period of invasion or of precursory fever. To foster the germ of the poison, as yet only affecting the inner surfaces, into efflorescence on the outer or cutaneous one, by hot air, warm and heavy clothes, and cordial drinks, is a practice, which, though at one time advocated on what was thought very sufficient theory, is now abandoned ...
— North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 • Various

... appear to the lay mind that a germ would scarcely care to pick a bone when it had fat meat to feed on, but my own recollections bore out my friend's statements. I remembered a man of my acquaintance, an enormously fleshy and unwieldy man, who, fearing apoplexy, undertook a radical scheme of banting. ...
— One Third Off • Irvin S. Cobb

... result of sheer accident. That the accidents of life should harmonize with the immutable decrees of Providence, is the great mystery of an honest and thinking mind. The reading accidentally of a fugitive brochure, thrown upon the table of the public library of Algiers, gave me the germ of the idea, which, fructifying and expanding, ultimately led me to the design of visiting and exploring the celebrated Oasis of Ghadames, planted far-away amidst the most appalling desolations of the Great Saharan Wilderness. This should teach us to lower our ...
— Travels in the Great Desert of Sahara, in the Years of 1845 and 1846 • James Richardson

... general form the cathedral should follow. The disposition of the several parts differed in no wise from that which had been followed during centuries before. The requirements of ritual had decided long since what were those essential features of planning to be insisted upon, for the pattern in germ was shown in the arrangement of the Mosaic Tabernacle. In the earliest plans the same distribution of parts was observed, though at a later date the transept was introduced—an idea which no doubt had its origin in some ...
— Bell's Cathedrals: Chichester (1901) - A Short History & Description Of Its Fabric With An Account Of The - Diocese And See • Hubert C. Corlette

... effective presentation in the foreground of such later scenes, by the chapter in the second volume describing the meeting between Lysander and the stern mother of his Spartan chief. In Lysander himself, moreover, we have the germ of a singularly dramatic situation. How would Lysander act in the final struggle which his character and fate are already preparing for him, between patriotism and friendship, his fidelity to Pausanias, and his devotion to Sparta? Is Lysander's father intended for that Ephor, who, in the last moment, ...
— Pausanias, the Spartan - The Haunted and the Haunters, An Unfinished Historical Romance • Lord Lytton


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