English Explanatory Dictionary

worm

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
  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.
  3. Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar.
  4. A maggot or any other insect larva with similar shape and behavior.
  5. A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent or any kind of dragon.
  6. Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.
  7. A contemptible or devious being.
  8. A self-replicating program that propagates through a network, differing from a virus in usually lacking any destructive effects.
  9. A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
  10. Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
  11. A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
  12. The spiral wire of a corkscrew.
verb
  1. To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
  2. To move with one's body dragging the ground.
  3. To work one's way by artful or devious means.
  4. To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
  5. To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
  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).
  7. To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving.
  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.
  10. To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.
noun
  1. Initialism of write once, read many.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/wɜːm/ wûrm /wɝm/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-worm.wav en-us-worm.ogg en-au-worm.ogg LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-worm.wav

Word forms

worm worms worming wormed

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”).

Related words

caterpillar grub lumbricine maggot Trojan horse vermian vermiform virus ROM RAM write once

Derived words

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* bone-eating snot flower worm book worm bookworm book-worm bootlace worm brain worm brainworm brain-worm bristle worm budworm buffalo worm burp the worm butt worm buzzworm cabbage worm caddis worm caddisworm cankerworm can of worms caseworm catworm Christmas tree worm clam worm cockworm coconut worm coco worm common glow-worm coneworm copperworm cornworm cotton worm cryptoworm cutworm deepwater big-eyed worm eel deworm dewworm

Translations

Bulgarian: шнек Czech: závit Dutch: draad Dutch: schroef Finnish: jengat Finnish: kierre French: vis sans fin German: Gewinde Hungarian: csavarmenet Low German: Gewinn Spanish: guirnalda Spanish: filete Spanish: rosca
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