zoogloea

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “zoogloea”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Alternative forms

• zoöglœa
• zooglea

Etymology

zoo- +‎ gloea, from Ancient Greek γλοία (gloía), γλία (glía, “glue”)

Noun

zoogloea (plural zoogloeas or zoogloeae)

1. (biology) A colony or mass of bacteria embedded in a viscous gelatinous substance, characteristic of a transitory stage through which rapidly multiplying bacteria pass in the course of their evolution.