worm
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Etymology
From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm (“worm, snake”), from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis, 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 Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Swedish orm (“snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“earthworm or snake”), Danish orm and Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem).
Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian var̃mas (“insect, midge”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”).
Pronunciation
Noun
worm (plural worms)
- A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
- ‘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 mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’
- More loosely, any of various tubular invertebrates resembling annelids but not closely related to them, such as velvet worms, acorn worms, flatworms, or roundworms.
- 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 216:
- 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 […]
- (archaic) A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent[1] or any kind of dragon.
- (fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless),[2] a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.[3]
- A contemptible or devious being.
- Don't try to run away, you little worm!
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 22:6:
- But I am a worme, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
- 1707, Isaac Watts, “Godly Sorrow ariſing from the Sufferings of Chriſt”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86:
- Would he devote that Sacred Head / For ſuch a Worm as I?
- (computing) A self-replicating malware that propagates through a network.
- When Trevor opened his email, a worm spread to 100 people in his address book.
- (cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
- Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
- 1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises:
- If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith
- A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
- The spiral wire of a corkscrew.
- (anatomy) A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.
- The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
- A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.
- (archaic or poetic) 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 hand, they said among them selues This man surely is a murtherer, whome, thogh he hathe escaped the sea, yet Vengeance hathe not suffred to liue.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- […] No, ’tis slander,
Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile […]
- 1867, Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., Inferno, volume I, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, Canto 6, lines 22-24, p. 35:
- When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!
His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks;
Not a limb had he that was motionless.
- 1561, Geneva Bible, Acts 28:3-4,
- (informal or poetic) A maggot.
- Food for the worms.
- (figuratively) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!
- (mathematics) A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
- (anatomy) The lytta.
- (preceded by definite article) A dance, or dance move, in which the dancer lies on the floor and undulates the body horizontally thereby moving forwards.
Usage notes
- It is common to use the plural form worms to refer to intestinal or other internal parasites.
- Although the use of the "worm" to mean "dragon" or "serpent" is archaic, those meanings are in current use in the word "wyrm" which is a doublet of "worm". Wyrm is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.
Derived terms
terms derived from worm (noun)
- anchor worm
- angleworm
- antiworm
- apple worm
- army-worm
- army worm
- armyworm
- arrow worm
- arrowworm
- Asian jumping worm
- backworm
- bagworm*
- bankrupt worm
- basketworm
- beard worm
- beetworm
- blackworm
- bladder worm
- bladder worm
- bladderworm
- blindworm (Anguis fragilis)
- blood worm*
- Bobbit worm
- bollworm*
- bone-eating snot flower worm
- bookworm
- book worm
- book-worm
- bootlace worm
- brain-worm
- brain worm
- brainworm
- bristle worm
- budworm
- buffalo worm
- burp the worm
- butt worm
- butt worm
- buzzworm
- cabbage worm
- caddis worm
- caddisworm
- cankerworm
- caseworm
- catworm
- Christmas tree worm
- clam worm
- cockworm
- coconut worm
- common glow-worm
- coneworm
- copperworm
- cornworm
- cotton worm
- cryptoworm
- cutworm (Noctuidae spp.)
- deepwater big-eyed worm eel
- deworm
- dewworm
- dragon worm
- dropworm
- early bird catches the worm
- earthworm (Lumbricina)
- ear-worm
- ear worm
- earworm
- eelworm
- eigenworm
- even a worm will turn
- eyeworm
- feather duster worm
- fireworm
- fishing worm
- fishworm
- flagworm
- flatworm (phylum Platyhelminthes)
- fleshworm
- flukeworm
- fruitworm
- galley-worm
- gapeworm
- giant tube worm
- glowworm
- glow-worm
- gnatworm
- Gordian worm
- gourdworm
- Grindal worm
- grindal worm
- groundworm
- grubworm
- grugru worm
- guinea worm
- guinea worm
- guinea-worm
- Guinea worm disease
- gummy worm
- gun worm
- hairworm
- heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis)
- herring worm
- hookworm
- hornworm
- horsehair worm
- horseshoe worm
- horseworm
- ice worm
- inchworm
- innkeeper worm
- jaw worm
- jointworm
- jumping worm
- juniper worm
- leafworm
- leaf-worm
- lob worm
- lob-worm
- lugworm
- lungworm
- maltworm
- mango worm
- mason worm
- maw worm
- maw-worm
- mealworm
- mealworm beetle
- measuring worm
- melonworm
- Mongolian death worm
- Moser's worm problem
- muckworm
- mudworm
- nanoworm
- oh worm
- palisade worm
- palmerworm
- palmer-worm
- palmer worm
- palmworm
- palolo worm
- parchment worm
- peacock worm
- peanut worm
- penis worm
- phlox worm
- pickleworm
- pileworm
- pillworm
- pinworm
- polystyrene worm
- Pompeii worm
- potato worm
- potworm
- proboscis worm
- ragworm
- railroad worm
- rainworm
- red worm
- redworm
- ribbon worm
- ringed worm
- ringworm
- rootworm
- roseworm
- roundworm
- rye-worm
- sand mason worm
- sand tube worm
- sandworm
- screwworm
- seatworm
- sea worm
- segmented worm
- shipworm
- silkworm
- skin worm
- slow worm
- slow-worm
- slugworm
- sour worm
- spaghetti worm
- spanworm
- spanworm
- spindleworm
- spiny-headed worm
- spiny-headed worm
- spiral worm
- spoon worm
- spoonworm
- stagworm
- stomach worm
- stoor worm
- strawworm
- superworm
- taintworm
- tank-worm
- tapeworm
- tape-worm
- the early bird catches the worm
- the early bird gets the worm
- the worm has turned
- thorny worm
- threadworm
- thunderworm
- tomato worm
- tongueworm
- tongue worm
- tree worm
- trematode worm
- tube worm
- tubeworm
- waxworm
- webworm
- wheal-worm
- wheatworm
- whipworm
- whiteworm
- white worm
- wiggle worm
- wiggle worm
- winter worm
- wireworm
- witworm
- wolf worm
- woodworm
- woolly worm
- wormable
- worm and wheel
- worm ball
- wormball
- worm bark
- worm burner
- worm cast
- wormcast
- worm castle
- worm charming
- worm-eaten
- worm-eating warbler
- wormer
- wormery
- worm fence
- worm fever
- wormfish
- worm food
- worm-food
- wormfowl
- worm gear
- wormgrass
- wormhole
- wormhood
- wormicide
- worm in the apple
- wormish
- wormless
- wormlet
- worm-like
- wormlike
- wormling
- wormlion
- worm lizard
- wormly
- worm moon
- worm oil
- worm out
- worm pick
- wormproof
- worm-ridden
- wormridden
- wormroot
- wormseed
- worm shell
- worm-shell
- wormshit
- wormskin
- worm-star
- worm tea
- worm turns
- worm wheel
- wormwood
- Wormworld
- wormy
- worm’s-eye view, worm’s eye view
- wug
- Y worm
- zombie worm
Translations
animal
| |||||
contemptible being
|
self-replicating program
|
cricket term
something helical, especially the thread of a screw
dragon or mythological serpent
|
References
- Sea serpent at Wikipedia
- Dragon (Middle-earth) at Wikipedia
- Sandworm (Dune) at Wikipedia
Verb
worm (third-person singular simple present worms, present participle worming, simple past and past participle wormed)
- (transitive) To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
- We wormed our way through the underbrush.
- (intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
- 1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds and beast:
- 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 […].
- (intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
- [1633], George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC:
- When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded.
- (transitive, figuratively) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
- He wormed his way into the organization.
- 2021 May 27, Andrew Orlowski, “You think the BBC is biased? Check out Wokepedia”, in The Telegraph:
- 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 should concern us all.
- (often followed by out) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
- 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit:
- They […] find themselves wormed out of all power.
- (transitive, figuratively, in “worm out of”) 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).
- 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
- They […] wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell.
- 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter XXII, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 1738:
- 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.
"I've got a awk'ard job—to try and worm something out of the barmaid."
- (transitive, nautical) To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving.
- Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
- 1841, Benjamin J. Totten, Naval Text-Book:
- Ropes […] are generally wormed before they are served.
- (transitive) To deworm (an animal).
- (transitive) 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.
- 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
- The men […] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies.
- (transitive) To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.
Translations
to make one's way with a crawling motion
|
to move with one's body dragging the ground
|
to get (into) gradually or slowly
|
to get information that someone is reluctant to give
|
(nautical) to fill in the contlines of a rope before parcelling and serving
to cure of intestinal worms
|
to work one's way by artful or devious means
|
See also
References
Anagrams
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