worm
UK /wɜːm/ · US /wɝm/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms worms worming wormed worme
- noun A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
- noun 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.
- noun (archaic or poetic) Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake (cf. “dragon”; blindworm, slowworm, “legless lizard”), snail, or caterpillar.
- noun (informal or poetic, loosely) 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.”
- noun (archaic or poetic) A dragon, today especially Germanic dragon, more often of the serpentine or wingless type, for example sea serpent, but also any kind of dragon.
- noun (fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.
- noun A contemptible or devious being. “Don't try to run away, you little worm!”
- noun (computing) 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. “When Trevor opened his email, a worm spread to 100 people in his address book.”
- verb (transitive) To make (one's way) with a crawling motion. “We wormed our way through the underbrush.”
- verb (intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
- verb (intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
- verb (transitive, figuratively) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate. “He wormed his way into the organization.”
- verb (often followed by out) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
- verb (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).
- verb (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.”
- verb (transitive) To deworm (an animal).
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
wyrm worm screw louse insect dirt ball writhe wrestle wriggle squirm twist
Etymology
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.
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”), Luxembourgish Wuerm (“worm”), Mòcheno burm (“snake”), Vilamovian vūəm, wüm (“worm”), Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem, “worm”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish orm (“worm”), Faroese and Icelandic ormur (“worm”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“worm”), yrme, yrmle (“female snake with offspring”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 (waurms, “snake”), Kildin Sami уррьм (urr’m, “gadfly larva”), Skolt Sami uʹrmm (“gadfly larva”).
Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμοξ (rhómox), ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”).
Borrowed from Danish and German Worm.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A creeping or a crawling animal of any kind or size, as a serpent, caterpillar, snail, or the like. [Archaic]
- noun Any small creeping animal or reptile, either entirely without feet, or with very short ones, including a great variety of animals; as, an earthworm; the blindworm. Specifically: (Zoöl.) (a) Any helminth; an entozoön.
- verb To work slowly, gradually, and secretly.
- verb To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; --often followed by out. They find themselves wormed out of all power. Swift.
Etymology [OE. worm, wurm, AS. wyrm; akin to D. worm, OS. & G. wurm, Icel. ormr, Sw. & Dan. orm, Goth. waúrms, L. vermis, Gr. Vermicelli, Vermilion, Vermin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “worm”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details