virus
Meanings
noun
- A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure that consists of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and that sometimes causes disease in the host organism (such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms).
- A species thereof.
- An individual particle thereof: synonym of virion.
- A quantity of such infectious agents, considered en masse.
- A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
- Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
- A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.
- Any type of malware.
- Any malicious or dangerous entity that spreads from one place or person to another.
verb
- To send or infect an electronic device with a computer virus.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English virus, from Latin vīrus (“poison, slime, venom”), via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós (“fluidity, slime, poison”). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.
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Translations
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