GERM THEORY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Germ theory

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/dʒərm θˈɪri/ Listen

noun

Germ theory n.

(Biol.) The theory that living organisms can be produced only by the development of living germs. Cf. Biogenesis, Abiogenesis.

(Med.) The theory which attributes contagious and infectious diseases, suppurative lesions, etc., to the agency of germs, i.e. pathogenic microorganisms. The science of bacteriology was developed after this theory had been established.

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Etymology of 'Germ theory'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Germ theory" Quotes from Famous Books

... GERM THEORY, the doctrine that certain diseases are due to fermentation caused by the presence of germs in the system in the form of minute ...

— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... numbers are legion, who worry about their health and that of the members of their family. What with the doctors scaring the life out of them with the germ theory, seeking to obtain legislation to vaccinate them, examine their children nude in school, take out their tonsils, appendices, and other internal organs, inject serums into them for this, that, and the other, and requiring them to observe a score and one maxims which they do ...

— Quit Your Worrying! • George Wharton James