Noun

(en-noun) (wikipedia virus) (Virus)

(archaic) Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.

(pathology, microbiology, virology) A submicroscopic, non-cellular structure consisting of a core of DNA or RNA surrounded by a protein coat, that requires a living host cell to replicate, and often causes disease in the host organism.

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke

, title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola.}}

* 2001 , Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford 2001, p. 64)

Viruses are the smallest and most simplified forms of life.

A disease caused by these organisms.

(computing) A program which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as CDs, USB drives, floppy disks, etc., often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.

Noun

(-)

(medicine) An infection of cowpox; or the virus which causes this infection

* {{quote-news, year=2007, date=May 18, author=John Schwartz, title=Soldier’s Smallpox Inoculation Sickens Son, work=New York Times citation

, passage=Since then, a handful of vaccinia cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , including one, described in the May 4 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, of vulvar infection in an Alaskan woman whose sex partner was a serviceman. }} ----