Meaning of coronavirus | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A member of the family Coronaviridae, comprising viruses which infect animals and human beings, and the genome of which consists of a single strand of RNA.
   countable, uncountable
2. Alternative letter-case form of coronavirus (“the virus SARS-CoV-2 or the disease COVID-19”).
   alt-of
3. SARS-CoV-2, the specific coronavirus that causes the infectious disease COVID-19.
   countable, uncountable
4. An illness caused by a coronavirus.
   countable, metonymically, uncountable
5. COVID-19, the disease caused by the specific coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
   countable, metonymically, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“A new group of viruses with the name of coronaviruses has been recognized by an informal group of virologists who have sent their conclusions to Nature. […] In the opinion of the eight virologists these viruses are members of a previously unrecognized group which they suggest should be called the coronaviruses, to recall the characteristic appearance by which these viruses are identified in the electron microscope.”

“This characteristic structural resemblance and other shared properties of these viruses have caused certain virologists to propose the name coronavirus for this previously unrecognized group.”

“The virus, designated as rat coronavirus (RCV), exhibits properties representative of the coronavirus group: characteristic surface structure, particles somewhat variable in size averaging approximately 90 mμ, apparent RNA content, essential lipid, heat sensitivity, and a close serologic relationship with the mouse hepatitis virus complex.”

“In 1971 a canine coronavirus was isolated from feces of military dogs that were suffering from severe vomiting and diarrhea. [...] Diagnosis usually is based on the history and physical examination and the identification of coronavirus by electron microscope examination of feces or by performing other laboratory tests on the feces.”

“Some accompanying cytotoxicity has also been observed as well as slight activity against A59 corona virus without concurrent cytotoxicity [...].”

“[T]he replication of the corona-virus and the herpes-simplex virus is blocked by cystatin C [...]”

“There are many viruses that have been implicated as the cause of 'colds'. Among the most common are coronaviruses, rhinoviruses and adenoviruses. Coronaviruses are so called because they look like crowns when viewed in an electron microscope, [...]”

“[T]he common cold is attributed to rhinoviruses and corona viruses; [...]”

“SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] is caused by a coronavirus. Viewed under a microscope, the virus looks like a crown, or corona. This is the same type of virus that causes the common cold and pneumonia. The coronavirus that causes SARS is called SARS-CoV.”

“It took four months to identify the culprit of the new disease as a virus of the corona-virus family that had jumped to infect humans from wild small animals handled and consumed as food in the Guangdong province of China.”

“Coronaviruses are worrying because epidemics caused by other members of the viral family, SARS and MERS, have had high death rates: 10 percent for SARS, and about 35 percent for MERS.”

“A woman in her 70s was confirmed as the first coronavirus death in the UK on Thursday as Downing Street warned that it was now highly likely that the virus would spread in “a significant way”.”

CEFR level