backworm

Synonym of filanders (“a disease of hawks”).

Noun

  1. Synonym of filanders (“a disease of hawks”).

    Synonyms: filanders

  2. The thread-like worm found in filanders.
    • The Indian falcon is sick of the backworm - August 1593, Walter Raleigh, letter:
    • The backworm is rarely quite killed[…]. - 1735, The Sportsmen's Dictionary, London: Printed for C. Hitch, at the Red Lion, and C. Davis, both in Pater-Noster-Row; and S. Austen, at the Angel and Bible in St. Paul's...
    • [... T]his, if any, may probably destroy that obstinate Disease of the Filander or Backworm. - 1964, Thomas Browne, “Of Hawks and Falconry, ancient and modern”, in Geoffrey Keynes, editor, The Works of Sir Thomas...

Origin

From back + worm.

Forms

backworms