virus
/vir ss/ • noun 1 a submicroscopic infective particle which is able to multiply within the cells of a host organism and typically consists of nucleic acid coated in protein. 2 informal an infection or disease caused by such an agent. 3 (also computer virus) a piece of code surreptitiously introduced into a system in order to corrupt it or destroy data. — ORIGIN originally denoting the venom of a snake: from Latin, ‘slimy liquid, poison’.
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