inoculate

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
inoculate /ɪˈnɒkjʊleɪt/

▶verb

• 1 another term for vaccinate.

  ■ introduce (an infective agent) into an organism.

• 2 introduce (cells or organisms) into a culture medium.

– derivatives
inoculable adjective,
inoculation noun,
inoculative adjective,
inoculator noun.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘graft a bud or shoot’): from L. inoculat-, inoculare ‘engraft’, from in- ‘into’ + oculus ‘eye, bud’.