teredo

A mollusc of the genus Teredo, especially of species Teredo navalis.

Noun

  1. A mollusc of the genus Teredo, especially of species Teredo navalis.
    • Meet fell Teredo, as he mines the keel / With beaked head, and break his lips of steel […]. - 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 123:
    • No timber that would stand the exposure to water as well as the ravages of white ants and the teredo, could be found. - 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South...

Origin

From Latin terēdō (“woodworm”), from Ancient Greek τερηδών (terēdṓn, “wood-worm”). Compare Ancient Greek: τέρην (térēn, “smooth, gentle”).

Forms

teredos teredoes

Synonyms

shipworm copperworm