1.
[syn: bacteriophage, phage]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
bacteriophage \bacteriophage\ n. sing. & pl.
a virus which infects bacteria; -- also colloquially called
phage in laboratory jargon.
Note: Bacteriophages are of many varieties, generally
specific for one or a narrow range of bacterial
species, and almost every bacterium is susceptible to
at least one bacteriophage. They may have DNA or RNA as
their genetic component. Certain types of
bacteriophage, called
temperate bacteriophage, may infect but not kill their host
bacteria, residing in and replicating either as a plasmid
or integrated into the host genome. Under certain
conditions, a resident temperate phage may become induced
to multiply rapidly and vegetatively, killing and lysing
its host bacterium, and producing multiple progeny. The
lambda phage of Eschericia coli, much studied in
biochemical and genetic research, is of the temperate
type.
[PJC] bacteriophagic
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
phage
n 1: a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria;
"phage uses the bacterium's machinery and energy to produce
more phage until the bacterium is destroyed and phage is
released to invade surrounding bacteria" [syn:
bacteriophage, phage]
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
phage
n.
A program that modifies other programs or databases in unauthorized ways;
esp. one that propagates a virus or Trojan horse. See also worm,
mockingbird. The analogy, of course, is with phage viruses in biology.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
phage
A program that modifies other programs or databases in
unauthorised ways; especially one that propagates a virus or
Trojan horse. See also worm, mockingbird. The
analogy, of course, is with phage viruses in biology.
[Jargon File]