Although the family name of Belcher is a prominent one in English and American history, it is actually Old French in origin. The ancestor of the Belcher family came to England from France, as part of William the Conqueror's army that came to England in the Norman Conquest of 1066 A.D.
(Microbiology) any of several viruses whose genetic specification is encoded in RNA rather than DNA and that are able to reverse the normal flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA by transcribing RNA into DNA: many retroviruses are known to cause cancer in animals.
retâ¢roâ¢viâ¢rus. any of various single-stranded RNA-containing viruses, of the family Retroviridae, that have a helical envelope and contain the enzyme reverse transcriptase, which enables genetic information from viral RNA to become part of host DNA. [1975â80]. ret`roâ¢viâ²ral, adj.