conspiracy of silence: a conspiracy not to talk about some situation or event
conspiracy: a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act
gram's method: a staining technique used to classify bacteria; bacteria are stained with gentian violet and then treated with Gram's solution; after being decolorized with alcohol and treated with safranine and washed in water, those that retain the gentian violet are Gram-positive and those that do not retain it are Gram-negative