n. In biology, the first rudiment of any organism; the earliest stage in the development of an organism; the simplest recognizable condition of a living thing; in botany, technically, the embryo of a seed, or, in the Linnean use of the word, the ovary.n. By extension, an early or but slightly developed state of an organism; an early embryo. See embryo.n. Some or any microbe or micro-organism; a spore: as, a cholera-germ. See germicide.n. That from which anything springs or may spring as if from a seed or root; a rudimentary element; a formative principle: as, the germs of civil liberty or of prosperity.n. In pathology, the doctrine that zymotic diseases, together with some not usually classed as zymotic, are due to the presence in the body of living organisms. These organisms, which, so far as they have been positively identified, belong for the most part to the group of bacteria, produce their morbid effects by their vital activity, and probably in large part by the formation of poisons called ptomaines. This doctrine no longer rests upon indirect evidence alone, but also on the positive identification of the peccant organisms in a certain number of diseases, as in phthisis, anthrax, relapsing fever, typhoid fever, and some others. Synonyms Fetus, Rudiment. See embryo.