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Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. a virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria;
- Example: "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 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]