Definition of "vaccine"

(historical)

1. (medicine) Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.  examples

2. (immunology) Of or pertaining to cowpox as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox; also, of or pertaining to such material used for vaccination.  quotations

   Quotations

   • I will call upon them: they are healthy children, we can have the vaccine infection from them, and I will inoculate the boy myself.

     1804, Maria Edgeworth, “To-morrow. Chapter VII. Moral Habits Seldom Changed by Change of Fortune.”, in Popular Tales, volume III, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], [b]y C. Mercier and Co., […], page 389

(archaic) Of, pertaining to, or derived from cattle.  quotations

(immunology)

1. A substance given to stimulate a body's production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease without causing the disease itself in the treatment, prepared from the agent that causes the disease (or a derivative of it; or a related, also effective, but safer disease), or a synthetic substitute; also, a dose of such a substance.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I am much inclined to the vaccine. My friend, Mr. L—, has had all his children vaccined, and I just wait to see the effect.

     1804, Maria Edgeworth, “To-morrow. Chapter VII. Moral Habits Seldom Changed by Change of Fortune.”, in Popular Tales, volume III, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], [b]y C. Mercier and Co., […], page 387

   • But he really ought to know the difference between a vaccine and an anti-toxin. Stimulate the phagocytes! The vaccine doesnt affect the phagocytes at all.

     1906<!--Doctor's Dilemma--> (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “The Doctor’s Dilemma”, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, Getting Married, & The Shewing-Up of Blanco Posnet, London: Constable and Company, published 1911, Act I, page 28

2. The process of vaccination; immunization, inoculation.  examples

3. (historical) material taken from cowpox pustules used for vaccination against smallpox.

4. (also medicine, obsolete) The disease cowpox, especially as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox.

(figuratively)

1. Something defensive or protective in nature, like a vaccine (sense 1.1).  examples

2. (computing) A software program which protects computers against, or detects and neutralizes, computer viruses and other types of malware; an antivirus.  examples

(transitive, archaic) Synonym of vaccinate (“to treat (a person or an animal) with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease”)  quotations