Pronunciations (4)
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/wɜːm/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/wɝm/
Pronunciation notes
- US
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wɜːm
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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wɝm
Pronunciation notes
- US
Noun
A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
- Examples
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More examples (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. See Appendix:English worms.
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More examples (1)
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 […]
Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake (cf. “dragon”; blindworm, slowworm, “legless lizard”), snail, or caterpillar.
Usage- Archaic
- Poetic
- Examples
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A forlyued cok leiþ eiren in his laste elde... and ȝif any venemous worme sittiþ on broode þerevppon in þe canyculer dayes, þerof is igendrid... a cocatrice.
More examples (1)
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.
[…] No, ’tis slander, Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile […]
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When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks; Not a limb had he that was motionless.
Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake (cf. “dragon”; blindworm, slowworm, “legless lizard”), snail, or caterpillar. A maggot or any other insect larva with similar shape and behavior.
Usage- Archaic
- broadly
- Informal
- Poetic
- Examples
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Those little wriggling worms are the larvae of flies who laid eggs here.
A dragon, today especially Germanic dragon, more often of the serpentine or wingless type, for example sea serpent, but also any kind of dragon.
Usage- Archaic
- Poetic
- Synonyms
- Examples
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a. 1398, John Trevisa, transl. Bartholomeus Anglicus as De Proprietatibus Rerum (MS BL Add. 27944), Vol. I, p. 628:
In the Cross of Cong (A.D. 1123) the Celtic inter-laced patterns are found side by side with the "worm-dragon" ornament ..
More examples (2)
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[.]
The after fifty years a foul worm, a dragon, took it upon itself to hold sway through the heavens at night.
A dragon, today especially Germanic dragon, more often of the serpentine or wingless type, for example sea serpent, but also any kind of dragon. Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.
Usage- Archaic
- Poetic
A contemptible or devious being.
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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.
More examples (2)
Would he devote that Sacred Head For ſuch a Worm as I?
Lord, why is this, I trembling cry'd, Wilt thou purſue thy worm to death?
A self-replicating program that propagates through a network by copying itself, differing from a virus which seeks to propagate by inserting its code into other executable files.
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When Trevor opened his email, a worm spread to 100 people in his address book.
A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
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If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw. A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw. The spiral wire of a corkscrew.
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw. A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.
- Synonyms
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Holonyms: worm drive, worm and wheel
An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
Usage- Figurative
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The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!
A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
The lytta.
A dance, or dance move, in which the dancer lies on the floor and undulates the body horizontally thereby moving forwards.
Verb
To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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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.
To move with one's body dragging the ground.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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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[…].
To work one's way by artful or devious means.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Examples
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When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded.
To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
Usage- Figurative
- Transitive
- Examples
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He wormed his way into the organization.
More examples (1)
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.
To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
Usage- often
- followed by out
- Examples
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They […]find themselves wormed out of all power.
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).
Usage- Figurative
- Transitive
- in “worm out of”
- Examples
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They[…]wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell.
More examples (1)
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."
To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
Ropes[…]are generally wormed before they are served.
To deworm (an animal).
Usage- 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.
Usage- Transitive
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The men[…] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies.
To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.
Usage- Transitive
Noun
any of numerous relatively small elongated soft-bodied animals especially of the phyla Annelida and Chaetognatha and Nematoda and Nemertea and Platyhelminthes; also many insect larvae
- Broader terms
a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect
- Broader terms
a software program capable of reproducing itself that can spread from one computer to the next over a network
- Broader terms
- Examples
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worms take advantage of automatic file sending and receiving features found on many computers
screw thread on a gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or rack
- Broader terms
Verb
to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The prisoner writhed in discomfort
The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt's embrace