What is "virus"

Virus \Vi"rus\, n. [L., a slimy liquid, a poisonous liquid, poison, stench; akin to Gr. ? poison, Skr. visha. Cf. Wizen, v. i.]

1. (Med.) Contagious or poisonous matter, as of specific ulcers, the bite of snakes, etc.; -- applied to organic poisons. [Archaic]

2. the causative agent of a disease, . [obsolescent]

3. any of numerous submicroscopic complex organic objects which have genetic material and may be considered as living organisms but have no proper cell membrane, and thus cannot by themselves perform metabolic processes, requiring entry into a host cell in order to multiply. The simplest viruses have no lipid envelope and may be considered as complex aggregates of molecules, sometimes only a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) and a coat protein. They are sometimes viewed as being on the borderline between living and nonliving objects. They are smaller than living cells in size, usually between 20 and 300 nm; thus they pass through standard filters, and were previously referred to as filterable virus. The manifestations of disease caused by multiplication of viruses in cells may be due to destruction of the cells caused by subversion of the cellular metabolic processes by the virus, or by synthesis of a virus-specific toxin. Viruses may infect animals, plants, or microorganisms; those infecting bacteria are also called bacteriophages. Certain bacteriophages may be non-destructive and benign in the host; -- see bacteriophage.

4. Fig.: Any morbid corrupting quality in intellectual or moral conditions; something that poisons the mind or the soul; as, the virus of obscene books.

5. (Computers) a program or segment of program code that may make copies of itself (replicate), attach itself to other programs, and perform unwanted actions within a computer; also called computer virus or virus program. Such programs are almost always introduced into a computer without the knowledge or assent of its owner, and are often malicious, causing destructive actions such as erasing data on disk, but sometime only annoying, causing peculiar objects to appear on the display. The form of sociopathic mental disease that causes a programmer to write such a program has not yet been given a name. Compare trojan horse[3].

late 14c., "venomous substance," from Latin virus "poison, sap of plants, slimy liquid, a potent juice," probably from PIE root *weis- "to melt away, to flow," used of foul or malodorous fluids, with specialization in some languages to "poisonous fluid" (cognates: Sanskrit visam "poison," visah "poisonous;" Avestan vish- "poison;" Latin viscum "sticky substance, birdlime;" Greek ios "poison," ixos "mistletoe, birdlime;" Old Church Slavonic višnja "cherry;" Old Irish fi "poison;" Welsh gwy "fluid, water," gwyar "blood"). Main modern meaning "agent that causes infectious disease" first recorded 1728 (in reference to venereal disease). The computer sense is from 1972.

n. 1 (context archaic English) venom, as produced by a poisonous animal etc. 2 (context pathology microbiology virology English) 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.

1. n. (virology) ultramicroscopic infectious agent that replicates itself only within cells of living hosts; many are pathogenic; a piece of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a thin coat of protein

2. a harmful or corrupting agency; "bigotry is a virus that must not be allowed to spread"; "the virus of jealousy is latent in everyone"

3. a software program capable of reproducing itself and usually capable of causing great harm to files or other programs on the same computer; "a true virus cannot spread to another computer without human assistance" [syn: computer virus]

"Virus" is a KMFDM song from their fifth album, Naïve. In 2008, KMFDM Records re-released this as a 7" vinyl single, limited to 250 copies.

Virus is the tenth studio album by the death metal band Hypocrisy, released on September 19, 2005. This is the first Hypocrisy album recorded with their new drummer, Horgh (Reidar Horghagen), from the black metal band Immortal and second guitarist, Andreas Holma. A video was made for the song "Scrutinized".

Early pressings of the CD were sold with a thirteen-song limited edition live DVD, with 12 songs recorded in Strasbourg on Hypocrisy's 2004 tour as support of Cannibal Corpse, and from a different show they play the song "Total Disaster" by Destruction along with the band's vocalist and bass guitar player Marcel 'Schmier' Schirmer. Some CDs have a bonus track, "Watch Out", which appears to be a demo of a song recorded in 2000.

Some early pressings have an error where a scratch sound can be heard on tracks 6 and 11. The Nuclear Blast record label said it would mail a replacement to anyone who had one of these glitched discs.

Virus is a 1999 science fiction horror film directed by visual effects artist John Bruno and based on the comic book of the same name by Chuck Pfarrer. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland. It tells the story of a ship beset by a malevolent extraterrestrial entity that seeks to turn humanity into cyborg slaves.

Virus was promoted with a line of action figures and a tie-in video game. It turned out to be a critical and commercial flop.

ViRUS! is a Russian band, formed in 1999. Currently it is composed of Olga Laki, Yuri Stupnik (DJ Doctor) and Andrey Gudas. ViRUS! was popular in 1999-2001. The project produced techno-based, Russian pop music, similar to Ruki Vverh! at the time. After several popular songs they disappeared from the mainstream stage of techno-based Russian pop music.

Virus is an Argentine new wave music band, led by Federico Moura until his death on December 21, 1988, from AIDS-related complications. His brother Marcelo then became lead singer, until the band gave its final performance on September 29, 1990, in a support slot to David Bowie. Virus reunited in 1994 and has had some sporadic activity, without recovering its previous popularity. Their latest album, Caja Negra (2006) features live versions of their classics, together with 5 new studio tracks, with invited artists influenced by the band: Ale Sergi ( Miranda!), Adrián Dárgelos ( Babasónicos), Pity Álvarez ( Intoxicados) and Ciro Pertusi ( Attaque 77).

Moura was a talented frontman, regarded as one of the best voices in Argentine rock . This, together with an ensemble of talented musicians, allowed the band to revolutionize Argentine rock. Roberto Jacoby wrote the group's lyrics from its beginning. Some of their best-known songs are Wadu Wadu, El rock en mi forma de ser, Hay que salir del agujero interior, Una luna de miel en la mano, Amor descartable, Imágenes paganas and Mirada Speed.

Virus is a Norwegian avant-garde metal band signed to Jester Records. It was formed in 2000 by Carl-Michael Eide. The band is considered by Czral as a continuation of his previous band Ved Buens Ende because of similar musical elements and an avant garde form of unusual experimentation, although the band has its own characteristic sound.

Virus is a Dark Horse Comics comic book, written by Chuck Pfarrer, drawn by Canadian artist Howard Cobb and first published in 1992. The story is about an alien life form which takes over a Chinese research vessel and reconfigures it—using both the damaged electronics and the dead bodies of the crew, it propagates itself by making various "creatures" created out of both organic and inorganic parts. When a salvage ship shows up they have to deal with the life form or be taken over as well.

Pfarrer said in an interview that when he wrote the original story as a script in the early 1990s, the special effects for a film adaptation wouldn't have been possible, so he sold the script to Dark Horse as a comic. It was later filmed (in 1999) as Virus.

"Virus" is a single from Iron Maiden, released in 1996. It is the first single since 1980's " Women in Uniform" that does not appear on any official Iron Maiden studio album. It was, however, featured as a brand new track on the band's first ever career retrospective — 1996's double-disc Best of the Beast. It is the only Iron Maiden song to be credited to both of the band's guitarists. It has never been performed live by Iron Maiden, but Blaze Bayley performed it several times in his solo career. Lyrically, the song warns of rising business corruption in an increasingly Internet-dependent world.

Virus is the fourth full-length album by the French power metal band Heavenly. The advanced Japanese release occurred on September 21, 2006, by Avalon Records.

, literally "Day of Resurrection", is a 1980 Japanese post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Sakyo Komatsu. It stars Masao Kusakari, Sonny Chiba, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Chuck Connors, Olivia Hussey, Edward James Olmos, Ken Ogata, Glenn Ford and Henry Silva. The film is notable for being the most expensive Japanese film ever made at the time.

Virus, written by Tome and drawn by Janry, is the 33rd album of the Spirou et Fantasio series, and the first to come from this creative team, carrying on the series after the work of previous authors. The story was initially serialised in Spirou magazine before being released by Dupuis as a hardcover album in 1984.

Virus (also known as Formula for Death) is a 1995 television film starring Nicollette Sheridan, William Devane, Stephen Caffrey, Dakin Matthews, Kurt Fuller, Barry Corbin and William Atherton. It was directed by Armand Mastroianni and written by Robin Cook and Roger Young, based on Cook's novel Outbreak. The film is also known as Formula for Death (the DVD title).

"Virus" is a song written by Bob Arnz and Gerd Zimmermann and recorded by German singer LaFee. It was released as the first single from LaFee's debut album LaFee. The single reached fourteen in both the German and Austrian Singles Charts when released in March 2006. An English version of the song, entitled "Scabies", later appeared on LaFee's third studio album Shut Up.

A virus is a parasitic agent that is smaller than a bacterium and that can only reproduce after infecting a host cell.

Virus or The Virus may also refer to:

• Computer virus, a type of malicious computer program
  • Mobile virus, a type of malicious cell phone program

Virus (born Andre Michel Karkos in Rochester, New York) is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, producer, most recognized for playing lead guitar for the American industrial metal/ rock band Dope. He is also known for his work with metal band Device.

A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.

Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants, and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, about 5,000 virus species have been described in detail, although there are millions of types. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a sub-speciality of microbiology.

While not inside an infected cell or in the process of infecting a cell, viruses exist in the form of independent particles. These viral particles, also known as virions, consist of two or three parts: (i) the genetic material made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry genetic information; (ii) a protein coat, called the capsid, which surrounds and protects the genetic material; and in some cases (iii) an envelope of lipids that surrounds the protein coat when they are outside a cell. The shapes of these virus particles range from simple helical and icosahedral forms for some virus species to more complex structures for others. Most virus species have virions that are too small to be seen with an optical microscope. The average virion is about one one-hundredth the size of the average bacterium.

The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity. Viruses are considered by some to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection. However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life", and as replicators.

Viruses spread in many ways; viruses in plants are often transmitted from plant to plant by insects that feed on plant sap, such as aphids; viruses in animals can be carried by blood-sucking insects. These disease-bearing organisms are known as vectors. Influenza viruses are spread by coughing and sneezing. Norovirus and rotavirus, common causes of viral gastroenteritis, are transmitted by the faecal–oral route and are passed from person to person by contact, entering the body in food or water. HIV is one of several viruses transmitted through sexual contact and by exposure to infected blood. The range of host cells that a virus can infect is called its " host range". This can be narrow, meaning a virus is capable of infecting few species, or broad, meaning it is capable of infecting many.

Viral infections in animals provoke an immune response that usually eliminates the infecting virus. Immune responses can also be produced by vaccines, which confer an artificially acquired immunity to the specific viral infection. However, some viruses including those that cause AIDS and viral hepatitis evade these immune responses and result in chronic infections. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, but several antiviral drugs have been developed.

Ricardo Amezquita Carreño (born December 9, 1968) is a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler best known under the ring name, Virus. Amezquita originally worked in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's (CMLL) Minis division and held the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship under the name Damiancito El Guerrero, but was later moved into the regular division and given the name "Virus". As Virus Amezquita has held the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship, CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship and the Mexican National Lightweight Championship and is currently the leader of Los Cancerberos del Infierno, a group consisting of wrestlers Raziel and Cancerbero.

Virus was a French Automobile.

Pierre Brissonnet was the owner of the Garage Renouvier in the Rue de Renouvier in Paris. He built cyclecars between 1930 and 1935. Designer of the cars was a certain Renaud. The cars had front-wheel drive and a Two-stroke engine with 350 cc. The cars raced at the Bol d'Or.

Virus is a 2007 Malayalam-language Indian feature film directed by Shankar, starring Abhinay, Sajitha Beti and Shankar himself. The film was critically acclaimed and had a premiere held at Thiruvananthapuram Kalabhavan theatre.

"Virus" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk released as the third single from the album Biophilia. Each song in the album features a theme related to nature. In "Virus", Björk explores "fatal relationships" such as the one between a virus and a cell, as Björk explained in an interview: "It's a kind of a love story between a virus and a cell. And of course the virus loves the cell so much that it destroys it."

, literally Day of Resurrection is a 1964 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel written by Sakyo Komatsu. The film was adopted into a movie of the same name in 1980.

An English translation was released in November 2012.

"Virus (How About Now)" is a song by Dutch DJ and record producer Martin Garrix and MOTi. It was released as a digital download on 13 October 2014 on Beatport and on 27 October 2014 on iTunes. The song was written by Martin Garrix, Niclas Lundin, Leon Paul Palmen, MOTi and Jenny Wahlström, who also provided vocals for the track.

Virus is the sixth studio album by Montenegrin dance-pop recording artist Dado Polumenta. It was released 25 December 2011 through the record label Grand Production.

Virus is the tenth studio album works of Indonesian music group, Slank. Which was released in 2001. It contains 13 songs with the song Virus and # 1 as the hits singles this album

Virus is Big Boy's seventh album released in 2000.