" viruses "

[Noun]  | "vi*rus" | \ ˈvī-rəs \

1: any of a large group of submicroscopic infectious agents that are usually regarded as nonliving extremely complex molecules, that typically contain a protein coat surrounding an RNA or DNA core of genetic material but no semipermeable membrane, that are capable of growth and multiplication only in living cells, and that cause various important diseases in humans, animals, and plants; also : filterable virus

2: a disease or illness caused by a virus

3: the causative agent of an infectious disease

Origin: 1599 ;

 Middle English, "pus, discharge from a sore, semen," borrowed from Latin vīrus (neuter) "venom, poisonous fluid, acrid element in a substance, secretion with medical or magical properties," going back to an Indo-European base *u̯is-/*u̯īs- "poison, venom," whence also Middle Irish fí "venom, poison, evil," Greek īós "poison," Tocharian A wäs and Tocharian B wase, Sanskrit viṣáṃ, Avestan viš, viša- (also vīš?); (sense 1) borrowed from German, borrowed from Latin;

  * Note : The application of Latin vīrus to the submicroscopic infectious agents now considered viruses (rather than to any infectious agent) was apparently first made by the Dutch microbiologist Martinus Beijerinck (1851-1931) in "Ueber ein Contagium vivum fluidum als Ursache der Fleckenkrankheit der Tabaksblätter," Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Tweede Sectie, Deel VI, no. 5 (1898). Beijerinck, in studying tobacco mosaic virus, mistakenly believed that the agent was a fluid (contagium vivum fluidum, "living fluid infection") because it passed through filters capable of trapping bacteria. — The neuter gender of vīrus suggests that it was originally an s-stem; forms in text other than the nominative and accusative are perhaps found only in Lucretius. The length of the vowel in Latin, Irish, and Greek, in contrast to the short vowel in Tocharian and Indo-Iranian, has been variously accounted for. M. Mayrhofer (Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen) suggests that the etymon was originally a root noun, *u̯īs, *u̯is-ó-, with lengthening of the monosyllabic vowel; the daughter languages then generalized one or the other form.;

[Noun]  | "AIDS virus" 

1: hiv

Origin: 1983 ;

[Noun]  | "Cox*sack*ie*vi*rus" | \ (ˈ)käk-ˌsa-kē-ˈvī-rəs \

1: any of numerous serotypes of three enteroviruses (Enterovirus alphacoxsackie, E. betacoxsackie, and E. coxsackiepol) that are associated with mild to serious illness (such as sore throat, diarrhea, hand, foot and mouth disease, conjunctivitis, meningitis, and hepatitis)

Origin: 1949 ;

 Coxsackie, New York;

[Noun]  | "DNA virus" 

1: a virus whose genome consists of DNA

Origin: 1963 ;

[Noun]  | "Ebola virus" 

1: any of several filoviruses (genus Orthoebolavirus and especially O. zairense) of African origin that cause an often fatal hemorrhagic fever

Origin: 1976 ;

 From the Ebola River in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire);

  * Note : According to Peter Piot, a Belgian member of an international commission formed to investigate the first outbreak of the virus in 1976, the name was chosen by members of the commission (including the French physician Pierre Sureau and the Americans Karl Johnson and Joel Breman) from a map of Zaire at the Fonds Médical Tropical, a non-governmental organization in Kinshasa where the members were lodged. Though the Ebola River (a headwater stream of the Mongala River, a tributary of the Congo) turned out to be a considerable distance from the village of Yambuku where the fever was first observed, the name was nonetheless retained. The name "Yambuku virus" was avoided because of the stigma it would have attached to the village. (See Peter Piot, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 56-57.);

[Noun]  | "EB virus" | \ ˌē-ˈbē- \

1: epstein-barr virus

Origin: 1968 ;

[Noun]  | "Ep*stein-Barr virus" | \ ˌep-ˌstīn-ˈbär- \

1: a herpesvirus (Lymphocryptovirus humangamma4) that causes infectious mononucleosis and is associated with Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma —abbreviation EBV

Origin: 1968 ;

 Michael Anthony Epstein born 1921 and Yvonne M. Barr born 1932 English pathologists;

[Noun]  | "filterable virus" 

1: any of the infectious agents that pass through a filter of diatomite or unglazed porcelain with the filtrate and remain virulent and that include the viruses and various other groups (such as the mycoplasmas and rickettsias) which were originally considered viruses before their cellular nature was established

Origin: 1903 ;

[Noun]  | "human immunodeficiency virus" 

1: hiv

Origin: 1986 ;

[Noun]  | "Mar*burg virus" | \ ˈmär-bərg- \

1: a filovirus (Orthomarburgvirus marburgense) that causes an often fatal hemorrhagic fever and was originally transmitted to humans from grivets

Origin: 1968 ;

 Marburg, Germany;

[Noun]  | "viruses"