See Also: WORM(dictionary)
worm(1)(dictionary)
worm(2)(dictionary)
worm-eat(dictionary)
cad-worm(dictionary)
worm(encyclopedia)
WORM(dictionary)
Worm, Ole(medicine)
Worm(medicine)
glow-worm(dictionary)

worm(1) (iou)



worm noun.
[Old English wyrm, (later) wurm, corresp. to Old Frisian wirm, Old Saxon, Old & mod. High German wurm (Dutch worm), Old Norse ormr serpent, Gothic waurms, from Germanic base rel. to Latin vermis worm, Greek rhomos, rhomox woodworm. Cf. WORSUM.]
I.
A serpent, a snake, a dragon. arch. OE.
An animal that creeps or crawls; a reptile; an insect. obsolete exc. in comb., as slow-worm, galleyworm, glow-worm, etc. OE.
Any of numerous slender elongated invertebrate animals, usu. with soft moist bodies and inhabiting marine or fresh water, or burrowing in the soil; esp. any of the segmented worms or annelids, the roundworms or nematodes, and the flatworms; spec. an earthworm. OE.
eelworm, lug worm, palolo worm, rag worm, tube worm, etc.
b. Any of these animals which are internal parasites of humans and animals. Also, the disease or disorder constituted by the presence of these. Usu. in pl. OE.
Guinea worm, hair-worm, round worm, tapeworm, thread worm, etc.
Any insect larva with an elongated body; a maggot, a grub, a caterpillar, esp. one that feeds on and destroys flesh, fruit, leaves, timber, textiles, stored products, etc. Also the worm, infestation with such larvae. OE.
bookworm, hornworm, measuring worm, nose-worm, slug-worm, wireworm, etc.
b. A silkworm. OE.
A maggot or earthworm as a consumer of dead bodies in the grave. Freq. fig. OE.
A parasitic tick or mite which infests the skin and causes itching. Cf. RINGWORM. OE-E17.
Any of various long slender marine crustaceans and molluscs which destroy submerged timber by boring; esp. the shipworm. Also the worm, infestation with these. E17.
II. fig.
A human being likened to a worm or reptile, esp. as an object of contempt, scorn, or pity; an insignificant person; an abject miserable creature. OE.
b. A policeman. slang. M19.
a. A grief or passion that torments the heart or conscience, esp. remorse. OE.
b. A perverse fancy, a whim; a streak of insanity. L15-E18.
the worm, (a popular name for) any of various ailments supposed to be caused by a worm or worms; spec. (a) colic; (b) toothache. Scot. L15.
III.
The lytta in a dog's tongue, formerly cut out as a supposed safeguard against rabies. Now rare or obsolete. M16.
techn. Any of various implements of spiral form, as (a) a screw fixed on the end of a rod, for withdrawing the charge or wad from a muzzle-loading gun; (b) local (the screw of) an auger or gimlet; (c) the spiral tube or pipe of a still, in which the vapour is cooled and condensed; (d) the spiral part of a screw; (e) a short screw working in a worm-gear. M16.
a. An (artificial or natural) object resembling an earthworm. E18.
b. In pl. (The coiled pods of) a leguminous plant of southern Europe, Astragalus hamosus, sometimes grown as a curiosity. M19.
Phrases: a worm will turn = even a worm will turn below. be FOOD for worms. can of worms a complex and largely uninvestigated matter (esp. one likely to prove problematic or scandalous). even a worm will turn even the meekest person will resist or retaliate if pushed too far. worm's-eye view a view as seen from below or from a humble position.
Comb.: worm-burrow the hole made by a worm in soil, mud, or sand; a fossil perforation of this sort; worm-cast a convoluted mass of soil, mud, or sand thrown up by a worm on the surface after passing through the worm's body; worm-conveyor a conveyor working on the principle of the Archimedean screw; worm-eel any of various long slim-bodied eels of the families Moringuidae and Ophichthidae, found in tropical and warm-temperate seas; worm-fence US = snake-fence s.v. SNAKE noun; worm-fishing fishing with worms for bait; worm-gear an arrangement consisting of a toothed wheel worked by a revolving spiral; worm grass either of two pinkroots, Spigelia marilandica, of the southern US, and S. anthelmia, of the W. Indies, which are used as anthelmintics; worm-hole (a) a hole made by a burrowing worm or insect in wood, fruit, books, etc.; (b) Physics a hypothetical interconnection between widely separated regions of space-time; worm-holed adjective perforated with worm-holes; worm-killer a preparation for destroying garden worms; worm-lizard = AMPHISBAENIAN noun; worm pipefish a thin wormlike pipefish, Nerophis lumbriciformis, found on the rocky coasts of the NE Atlantic; worm red (of) a dull brownish-red colour; wormseed (the dried heads of) any of various plants considered to have anthelmintic properties, esp. Mexican tea, Chenopodium ambrosioides (Levant wormseed: see LEVANT adjective2); worm-shell (a) (the shell of) a marine gastropod mollusc, esp. of the genus Vermetus, which has a shell that becomes loosely and irregularly twisted towards the mouth; (b) = worm-tube below; worm-snake any of various small harmless snakes that resemble worms; esp. (a) a blind snake; (b) the colubrid Carphophis amoena of N. America; worm-spring a spiral spring; worm-tube the twisted calcareous tube of some sedentary polychaetes, as Serpula.
wormery noun a place or container in which worms are kept M20.
wormish adjective (rare) wormlike, fig. weak, despicable LME.
wormless adjective (rare) M19.
wormlike adjective & adverb (a) adjective resembling (that of) a worm (lit. & fig.); (b) adverb (rare) after the manner of a worm: E18.