Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various characteristically bluish-green fungi of the genus Penicillium that grow as molds on decaying fruits and ripening cheese and are used in the production of penicillin and in making cheese.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A genus of saprophytic fungi of the class Ascomycetes, the well-known blue-molds, that are abundant on decaying bread and numerous other decaying substances. The mycelium sends up numerous delicate branches which are septate and terminated by a necklace of conidia, or in rare instances spores are produced in asci. P. crustaceum (P. glaucum of authors) is the most common species. See
blue-mold , mold, and fermentation. - n. [l. c] In zoology, same as pencil, 7.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of the blue-green fungi, of the genus Penicillium, that are an important source of antibiotics.
WordNet 3.0
- n. genus of fungi commonly growing as green or blue molds on decaying food; used in making cheese and as a source of penicillin
Etymologies
- From the genus name. (Wiktionary)
- New Latin Pēnicillium, genus name, from Latin pēnicillus, brush; see pencil. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The first thing I learned was that to make penicillin, you have to grow a mold called penicillium.”
“There are tens of thousands of brilliant biological researchers out there, but only Fleming had the wit to cause penicillium notatum to float in the window.”
“The search engines would not have realized, as did Sir Alexander Fleming, that the penicillium mold forming on some accidentally spilled rye bread crumbs and preventing staphylococcus bacteria from growing in his Petrie dish could herald the discovery of the life-saving antibiotic, penicillin.”
The Huffington Post: Marshall P. Duke: Pancake People, Rise Up!
“He also pierces the cheese slightly later – at approximately 5 or 6 weeks rather than 4 or 5 – giving more time for the acidity to drop before the penicillium roqueforti (blue mould) does its work.”
“Blue By Ewe is a Roquefort style cheese made using penicillium roqueforti and is hand salted with Murray River salt.”
“I am also allergic to penicillium it is spelled correctly, and other molds.”
“From an environmental standpoint alone - there were serious indoor mold problems with stachybotrys, aspergillus, penicillium, chaetomium, trichoderma, fusarium, cladosporium and others found in the toxic home.”
“The mold found in Roquefort is called penicillium roqueforti which occurs naturally in caves.”
“FOTHERGILL: If I tested my pillow and it had 34 penicillium, I'd think fine I'll just get a new one.”
“LAX: Penicillin is the drug that is taken from penicillium notatum.”
The Mold in Dr. Florey�s Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘penicillium’.
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Mold
Or mould. Your pick.
mold, mould, black mould, Stachybotrys, Aspergillus niger, hoodmold, buttonmold, moldavite, molder, smolder, sooty mold, quirk molding and 9 more...
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