worm

A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.

Noun

  1. A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
    • ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their...
  2. More loosely, any of various tubular invertebrates resembling annelids but not closely related to them, such as velvet worms, acorn worms, flatworms, or roundworms. See Appendix:English worms.
    • Leaning that I might eat, I stretched and clung Over the shapeless depth in which those corpses hung. A woman’s shape, now lank and cold and blue, The dwelling of the many-coloured worm, Hung there […] - 1817 December,...
  3. Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar.
    • 1561, Geneva Bible, Acts 28:3-4, And when Paul had gathered a nomber of stickes, & laid them on the fyre, there came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. Now when the Barbarians sawe the worme hang on his...
    • […] No, ’tis slander, Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile […] - 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William...
    • When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks; Not a limb had he that was motionless. - 1867, Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl.,...
  4. A maggot or any other insect larva with similar shape and behavior.
    • Those little wriggling worms are the larvae of flies who laid eggs here.
  5. A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent or any kind of dragon.
    • In the Cross of Cong (A.D. 1123) the Celtic inter-laced patterns are found side by side with the "worm-dragon" ornament .. - 1922, A. Walsh, Scandinavian Relations with Ireland during the Viking Period:
    • Indeed the allusion to the more renowned worm killed by the Wælsing is sufficient indication that the poet selected a dragon of well-founded purpose[.] - 1936, J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,...
    • The after fifty years a foul worm, a dragon, took it upon itself to hold sway through the heavens at night. - 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 39:

    1. (fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.

  6. A contemptible or devious being.
    • Don't try to run away, you little worm!
    • But I am a worme, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 22:6:
    • Would he devote that Sacred Head For ſuch a Worm as I? - 1707, Isaac Watts, “Godly Sorrow ariſing from the Sufferings of Chriſt”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86:
  7. A self-replicating program that propagates through a network, differing from a virus in usually lacking any destructive effects.
    • When Trevor opened his email, a worm spread to 100 people in his address book.
  8. A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
  9. Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
    • If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith - 1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises:

    1. A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.

    2. The spiral wire of a corkscrew.

    3. (anatomy) A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.

    4. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.

    5. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.

  10. An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
    • The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! - c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...
  11. A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
  12. The lytta.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *wurmiz Proto-West Germanic *wurmi Old English wyrm Middle English worm English worm From Middle English werm, wirm, worm, worme, wrim, wurm, wyrm, wyrme, from Old English weorm, wurm, wyrm, from Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (“worm; snake”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm; larva”), possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of vermin and wyrm, the latter of which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English. (computing): First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider. Cognates Germanic cognates include North Frisian wörem, wörm, Würem (“worm”), Saterland Frisian Wurm, Wúurm (“worm”), West Frisian wjirm (“worm”), Alemannic German Wüüre (“worm”), Cimbrian bórm (“worm”), burm (“snake”), Dutch worm, wurm (“worm”), German Gewürm (“vermin”), Wurm (“worm”), Low German Worm (“worm”),...

Forms

worms worme

Derived

anchor worm angleworm antiworm apple worm army-worm army worm armyworm arrow worm arrowworm Asian jumping worm backworm bagworm* bankrupt worm barley worm basketworm beard worm beetworm blackworm bladderworm bladder worm blindworm blood worm* Bobbit worm bollworm*

Verb

  1. To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
    • We wormed our way through the underbrush.
    • I took a firm grip of Josella's hand, and we started to worm our way along as unobviously as possible. - 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 80:
  2. To move with one's body dragging the ground.
    • Inch by inch I wormed along the secret passageway, flat to the ground, not once raising my head, hardly daring to pull a full breath[…]. - 1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds...
  3. To work one's way by artful or devious means.
    • When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded. - [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge,...
  4. To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
    • He wormed his way into the organization.
    • With “facts” generated by Wikipedia worming themselves into every corner of our digital lives, such as your Alexa speaker or iPhone, perhaps it’s the ubiquity of information that’s the problem – and something that...
  5. To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
    • They […]find themselves wormed out of all power. - 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit:
  6. To drag out of, to get information that someone is reluctant or unwilling to give (through artful or devious means or by pleading or asking repeatedly).
    • They[…]wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell. - 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
    • He nodded. "Mum's the word, Mrs. Bunting! It'll all be in the last editions of the evening newspapers—it can't be kep' out. There'd be too much of a row if twas!" "Are you going off to that public-house now?" she asked....
  7. To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving.
    • Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
    • Ropes[…]are generally wormed before they are served. - 1841, Benjamin J. Totten, Naval Text-Book:
  8. To deworm (an animal).
  9. To cut the worm, or lytta, from under the tongue of (a dog, etc.) for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw, and formerly supposed to guard against canine madness.
    • The men[…] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies. - 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify...
  10. To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.

Forms

worms worming wormed worme

Related

caterpillar grub lumbricine maggot Trojan horse vermian vermiform virus