virus

Meaning

Noun

• 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; such agents are often classed as nonliving infectious particles and less often as microorganisms.
• A quantity of such infectious agents
• A disease caused by such an infectious agent; a viral illness.
• Venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc.
• A type of malware which can covertly transmit itself between computers via networks (especially the Internet) or removable storage such as disks, often causing damage to systems and data; also computer virus.
• Any type of malware.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• DNA virus
• RNA virus

Broader meaning words

• malware

Origin

• From Middle English virus, from Latin vīrus ("poison, slime, venom"), via rhotacism from Proto-Italic *weizos, from Proto-Indo-European *wisós ("fluidity, slime, poison"). First use in the computer context by David Gerrold in his 1972 book When HARLIE Was One.