̷ ̷ˈ ̷ ̷ēəm noun
Etymology: New Latin, from clostr- (from Greek klōstēr spindle) + -idium
1. capitalized : a genus of anaerobic or microaerophilic saprophytic rod-shaped or spindle-shaped bacteria (family Bacillaceae) that are nearly cosmopolitan in soil, animal intestines, and dung, that are distinguished from members of the genus Bacillus by the swollen drumstick shape assumed during spore formation, by the absence of aerobic growth, and by lack of the enzyme catalase, that are very active biochemically comprising numerous fermenters of carbohydrates with vigorous production of acid and gas, many nitrogen fixers, and others which rapidly putrefy proteins, and that include forms of considerable importance to man in certain industrial fermentations (as C. butyricum or C. acetobutylicum ) or as pathogens of himself, his domestic animals, or his cultivated plants — compare blackleg , botulism , gas gangrene , limberneck , tetanus
2. plural clostrid·ia -ēə
a. : any bacterium of the genus Clostridium
b. : a spindle-shaped or ovoid bacterial cell ; especially : one swollen at the center by an endospore