# vaccine

Pronunciation: US say "vak-SEEN" /vækˈsin/; UK say "VAK-seen" /ˈvæksiːn/

## Noun

1. A preparation given to make the body produce antibodies and gain immunity to a disease without causing the disease itself, made from the disease agent, a safer related form, or a synthetic substitute.
   - Simple: A medicine that helps your body fight off a disease before you ever get sick.
   - _Researchers tested the vaccine in three trial phases before seeking approval._
   - _Each vaccine trains the immune system to recognize a specific pathogen._
2. The process of vaccination, the immunizing or inoculating of a person or animal against disease.
   - Simple: The act of giving a person or animal a vaccine so they are protected from a disease.
   - _We booked the puppy's next round of vaccines at the clinic for early spring._
   - _Her flu vaccine went quickly, and she was back at her desk before her coffee got cold._
3. Something defensive or protective in nature, working in the manner of a medical vaccine.
   - Simple: Something that guards against harm, working much like a shot that stops disease.
   - _Skepticism can serve as a vaccine against propaganda and rumor._
   - _Early exposure to small setbacks became a vaccine that toughened the young athletes._
4. A software program that protects a computer against malware, or that detects and removes computer viruses; an antivirus.
   - Simple: A computer program that keeps a computer safe from viruses and other harmful software.
   - _The IT team deployed a vaccine across every workstation in the office._
   - _An outdated vaccine may miss the latest forms of malware._
7. Matter collected from the pustules of cowpox and used to vaccinate people against smallpox.
   - Simple: The matter taken from cowpox sores and used to protect people from smallpox.
   - _Surgeons preserved the vaccine between glass plates to carry it inland._
   - _A shortage of vaccine delayed the inoculation of the regiment._

## Adjective

5. Relating to cowpox as a source of material for protecting against smallpox, or to such material itself.
   - Simple: Coming from cowpox sores and used to guard people against smallpox.
   - _Physicians in 1840 relied on vaccine lymph drawn directly from infected heifers._
   - _The surgeon doubted whether the vaccine material had retained its potency._
6. Relating to, resulting from, or typical of cowpox.
   - Simple: Relating to or caused by the cattle disease cowpox.
   - _The physician examined the vaccine pustules covering the milker's wrist._
   - _Country folk recognized the vaccine eruption as a harmless cattle ailment._

## Adjective

8. Of, relating to, or derived from cattle. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Coming from cattle, or having to do with cattle.
   - _The tannery dealt chiefly in vaccine leather and horn._
   - _Old ledgers recorded vaccine stock among the estate's holdings._

## Noun

9. Cowpox, especially in connection with the material once obtained from it for smallpox vaccination. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The cattle disease cowpox, used long ago to protect people from smallpox.

## Verb

10. To treat a person or animal with a vaccine in order to produce immunity against a disease. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To give a person or animal a vaccine so they will not catch a disease.
   - _Parishes hired men to vaccine the poor at public expense._
   - _The physician vaccined the herd to halt the spreading disease._

## Origin

**Meanings 5–6, 8** — A learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus ('of or derived from a cow'), from vacca ('cow') plus the adjective-forming suffix -īnus. The medical sense goes back to the early use of the cowpox virus against smallpox, reflected in New Latin variolae vaccīnae ('cowpox'), coined by the British physician Edward Jenner (1749–1823).
**Meanings 1–4, 7, 9–10** — The noun is probably derived partly from the adjective vaccine (see etymology 1) and partly borrowed from French vaccine and vaccin ('cowpox; vaccination against smallpox using cowpox material'), both from Latin vaccīnus. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates include Italian vaccina, Portuguese vacina, and Spanish vacuna.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/vaccine (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).