autocide

English

Etymology 1

From auto- +‎ -cide.

Noun

autocide (countable and uncountable, plural autocides)

  1. (agriculture) Control of a pest through propagation of sterile males.
    • 1975, Dennis S. Hill, Agricultural Insect Pests of the Tropics and Their Control, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 22:
      Generally, autocide is most effective when applied to restricted populations (islands, etc.), but can be effective on parts of continents.
  2. (bacteriology) A substance produced by a bacterium that is fatal to that bacterium.
    • 2001, “Myxococcales”, in David R. Boone et al., editors, Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, →ISBN, page 1065:
      Five different autocides have been isolated from Myxococcus xanthus.
  3. (obsolete, rare) A suicidal person.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From auto +‎ -cide; see auto (“automobile”).

Noun

autocide (countable and uncountable, plural autocides)

  1. An act of suicide committed by crashing a car.
    • 1993 December 13, “Northbridge Educators Alerted to Depression Among Students”, in Worcester Telegram Gazette‎[1]:
      "Autocide is becoming the second most popular method for older teens to commit suicide," she said.
  2. An act of killing someone with an automobile.

Anagrams

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