worm definition
Overview
This page has 51 definitions of worm with English translations in 5 languages. Worm is a noun, verb and adjective. Examples of how to use worm in a sentence are shown. Also define these 0 related words and terms: .
English worm definition
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”). Cognate with Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Danish orm, Norwegian orm. Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian var̃mas (“insect, midge”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”). First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.
Doublet of wyrm, which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wɜːm/
- (US) enPR: wûrm, IPA(key): /wɚm/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m
Noun
worm (plural worms)
- A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess[1]:
- ‘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 1000449192, 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]
- (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 964384981, Psalms 22:6:
- But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
- (computing) A self-replicating program that propagates through a network.
- (cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored in an innings.
- 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.
- 1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises
- (obsolete) Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar.
- 1561, Geneva Bible, Acts 28:3-4,[2]
- 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 606515358, [Act III, scene iv]:
- […] No, ’tis slander,
Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile […]
- 1867, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (translator), The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, Volume I, Inferno, Canto 6, lines 22-24, p. 35,[3]
- 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,[2]
- (figuratively) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
- c. 1593, 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 606515358, [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
- bagworm
- blindworm (Anguis fragilis)
- blood worm
- bollworm*
- bookworm
- cutworm (Noctuidae spp.)
- deworm
- earthworm (Lumbricina)
- earworm
- fishing worm
- flatworm
- giant tube worm
- glowworm
- heartworm
- hookworm
- hornworm
- inchworm
- leafworm
- lugworm
- lungworm
- measuring worm
- Mongolian death worm
- palisade worm
- penis worm
- ringworm
- roundworm
- screwworm
- shipworm
- silkworm
- slowworm
- spanworm
- tapeworm
- the early bird catches the worm
- the worm has turned
- wolf worm
- woodworm
- worm food
- worm gear
- wormhole
- wormlet
- wormling
- worm lizard
- wormridden
- worm’s-eye view, worm’s eye view
- wormwood
- wormy
- * Entries with derived terms containing terms using worm
Translations
|
|
|
|
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 […].
- 1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds and beast
- (intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
- [1633], George Herbert, [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], OCLC 1048966979; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885, OCLC 54151361:
- 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
- To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; often followed by out.
- 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit
- They […] find themselves wormed out of all power.
- 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit
- (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 558196156:
- 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 7780546; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860, 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."
- 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!"
- (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; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], OCLC 742335644:
- 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
|
|
|
|
|
|
See also
References
- [4] The Free Dictionary, Farlex Inc., 2010.
Anagrams
Cornish worm definition
Adjective
worm
- Soft mutation of gorm.
Dutch worm definition
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch worm, from Old Dutch *wurm, *worm, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis. Compare English worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Danish orm.
Noun
worm m (plural wormen, diminutive wormpje n)
- worm, vernacular term for various, mostly legless invertebrates; often nematodes or legless arthropod larvae.
Derived terms
Descendants
See also
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
worm
Middle English worm definition
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English wyrm, from Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis.
Pronunciation
Noun
worm (plural wormes or wormen)
- A worm or similar small wormlike animal that lives in the ground; especially in the following special senses:
- A crawling animal; an animal that moves upon the ground.
- An animal regarded as harmful and annoying.
- A snake or snake-like monster.
- A dragon, drake, or wyrm (mythological fire-breathing winged lizard)
- A beast that inhabits Hell; causing suffering to its inhabitants.
- A pauper, miser, or other contemptuous individual.
- regret, forgiveness; the twanging of the heartstrings.
- evil, malice; that which promotes maliciousness.
- (biblical) The snake of Eden.
- (Christianity, rare) Satan, the Devil.
- (veterinary, rare) A muscle underneath the tongue of a dog seen as increasing the risk of rabies.
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “wǒrm, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-02.
Portuguese worm definition
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English worm.
Pronunciation
Noun
worm m (plural worms)
- (computer security) worm (self-replicating program)