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Definition of: bacillus
(bə·sil′əs) noun plural ba·cil·li (-sil′ī)
1. Any of a large and numerous class of straight, rod-shaped bacteria having both beneficial and pathogenic effects: distinguished from coccus and spirillum types.
2. Any of a family (Bacilla-ceae) of straight, rod-shaped, aerobic, spore-forming bacteria, occurring singly or in chains.
3. Loosely, a bacterium. For illustration see BACTERIA. [<NL <bacillum, dim. of baculus a stick]
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