glowworm

[ gloh-wurm ]

/ ˈgloʊˌwɜrm /

the wingless female or larva of the European beetle, Lampyris noctiluca, which emits a sustained greenish light.

any of various other beetle larvae or wingless females that emit a glow rather than a flash of light.

Origin of glowworm

1300–50; Middle English. See glow, worm

glow-worm, glower, glowfly, glowing, glowstick, glowworm, gloxinia, gloze, glu, glubb, gluc-

There was nothing now in the world but himself and this glow-worm wandering across his hand.

Guy and Pauline |Compton Mackenzie
The frequency with which the Glow-worm was being laid up for repairs was beginning to get on our nerves.

The Campfire Girls Go Motoring |Hildegard G. Frey
He could not desire the star and find solace in the glow-worm—pursue Isolde and lag by the way with Moll Flanders.

Robert Orange |John Oliver Hobbes
In about a couple of days, my prisoner, but lately injured by the Glow-worm's treachery, is restored to his normal state.

The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles |Jean Henri Fabre

Did it go out like the glow-worm's lamp, the life and sweetness of the flower?

Afoot in England |W.H. Hudson

glow-worm

a European beetle, Lampyris noctiluca, the females and larvae of which bear luminescent organs producing a greenish light: family Lampyridae

any of various other beetles or larvae of the family Lampyridae