worm

[ wurm ]

/ wɜrm /

noun

Zoology. any of numerous long, slender, soft-bodied, legless, bilaterally symmetrical invertebrates, including the flatworms, roundworms, acanthocephalans, nemerteans, gordiaceans, and annelids.

(loosely) any of numerous small creeping animals with more or less slender, elongated bodies, and without limbs or with very short ones, including individuals of widely differing kinds, as earthworms, tapeworms, insect larvae, and adult forms of some insects.

something resembling or suggesting a worm in appearance, movement, etc.

Informal. a groveling, abject, or contemptible person.

the spiral pipe in which the vapor is condensed in a still.

(not in technical use) screw thread(def 1).

screw conveyor.

Also called worm screw. a rotating cylinder or shaft, cut with one or more helical threads, that engages with and drives a worm wheel.

something that penetrates, injures, or consumes slowly or insidiously, like a gnawing worm.

worms, (used with a singular verb) Pathology, Veterinary Pathology. any disease or disorder arising from the presence of parasitic worms in the intestines or other tissues; helminthiasis.

(used with a plural verb) Metallurgy. irregularities visible on the surfaces of some metals subject to plastic deformation.

the lytta of a dog or other carnivorous animal.

computer code planted illegally in a software program so as to destroy data in any system that downloads the program, as by reformatting the hard disk.

verb (used without object)

to move or act like a worm; creep, crawl, or advance slowly or stealthily.

to achieve something by insidious procedure (usually followed by into): to worm into another's favor.

Metallurgy. craze(def 8a).

verb (used with object)

to cause to move or advance in a devious or stealthy manner: The thief wormed his hand into my coat pocket.

to get by persistent, insidious efforts (usually followed by out or from): to worm a secret out of a person.

to insinuate (oneself or one's way) into another's favor, confidence, etc.: to worm his way into the king's favor.

to free from worms: He wormed the puppies.

Nautical. to wind yarn or the like spirally round (a rope) so as to fill the spaces between the strands and render the surface smooth.

Origin of worm

before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English wyrm, dragon, serpent, worm; cognate with Dutch worm, German Wurm, Old Norse ormr; akin to Latin vermis

OTHER WORDS FROM worm

worm·er, noun worm·like, worm·ish, adjective

Words nearby worm

worldling, worldly, worldly-minded, worldly-wise, worldwide, worm, worm conveyor, worm drive, worm fence, worm gear, worm grass

Example sentences from the Web for wormlike

The wormlike thread of men wound round picquet after picquet, and throttled the sentries on the glacis, and at the gate.

The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation |Charles Roger
Along the bottom, between the curious mounds, writhed a wormlike thing.

Astounding Stories of Super-Science September 1930 |Various
Half-way up the avenue they whizzed past three policemen, one of whom was carrying on his back a strange and wormlike thing.

All on the Irish Shore |E. Somerville and Martin Ross
Vermiculate: worm-like in form: a marking with wormlike tracings.

Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology |John. B. Smith

He named it vermiculatus, owing to the "wormlike" appearance of its markings.

Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others |James Alexander Henshall

British Dictionary definitions for wormlike (1 of 2)

worm

/ (wɜːm) /

noun

any of various invertebrates, esp the annelids (earthworms, etc), nematodes (roundworms), and flatworms, having a slender elongated body Related adjective: vermicular

any of various insect larvae having an elongated body, such as the silkworm and wireworm

any of various unrelated animals that resemble annelids, nematodes, etc, such as the glow-worm and shipworm

a gnawing or insinuating force or agent that torments or slowly eats away

a wretched or spineless person

anything that resembles a worm in appearance or movement

a shaft on which a helical groove has been cut, as in a gear arrangement in which such a shaft meshes with a toothed wheel

a spiral pipe cooled by air or flowing water, used as a condenser in a still

a nontechnical name for lytta

anatomy any wormlike organ, structure, or part, such as the middle lobe of the cerebellum (vermis cerebelli) Technical name: vermis

computing a program that duplicates itself many times in a network and prevents its destruction. It often carries a logic bomb or virus

verb

to move, act, or cause to move or act with the slow sinuous movement of a worm

(foll by in, into, out of, etc) to make (one's way) slowly and stealthily; insinuate (oneself)

(tr; often foll by out of or from) to extract (information, a secret, etc) from by persistent questioning

(tr) to free from or purge of worms

(tr) nautical to wind yarn around (a rope) so as to fill the spaces between the strands and render the surface smooth for parcelling and serving

Derived forms of worm

wormer, noun wormlike or wormish, adjective

Word Origin for worm

Old English wyrm; related to Old Frisian wirm, Old High German wurm, Old Norse ormr, Gothic waurms, Latin vermis, Greek romos woodworm

British Dictionary definitions for wormlike (2 of 2)

WORM

/ (wɜːm) /

n acronym for computing

write once read many times: an optical disk that enables users to store data but not change it

Medical definitions for wormlike

worm

[ wûrm ]

n.

Any of various invertebrates, as those of the phyla Annelida, Nematoda, Nemertea, or Platyhelminthes, having a long, flexible, rounded or flattened body, often without obvious appendages.

Any of various crawling insect larvae, such as a grub or caterpillar, having a soft, elongated body.

Any of various unrelated animals, such as the shipworm or the slowworm, resembling a worm in habit or appearance.

worms Infestation of the intestines or other parts of the body with worms or wormlike parasites; helminthiasis.

Scientific definitions for wormlike

worm

[ wûrm ]

Any of various invertebrate animals having a soft, long body that is round or flattened and usually lacks limbs. The term worm is used variously to refer to the segmented worms (or annelids, such as the earthworm), roundworms (or nematodes), flatworms (or platyhelminths), and various other groups.

A destructive computer program that copies itself over and over until it fills all of the storage space on a computer's hard drive or on a network.

A Closer Look

Earthworms are one of many types of worms, including those of the flat and round species. Over a century ago, Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms and wrote The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms with Observations on Their Habits, an entire book that described his research on earthworm behavior and intelligence and further explained how important earthworms are to agriculture. Long before [the plow] existed, he wrote, the land was, in fact, regularly plowed and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world. Darwin was referring to the way that earthworms naturally mix and till soil, while both improving its structure and increasing its nutrients. As they tunnel in the soil, earthworms open channels that allow in air and water, improving drainage and easing the way for plants to send down roots; they also carry nutrients from deep soils to the surface. Earthworms eat plant material in the soil, decaying leaves, and leaf litter, and their own waste provides nourishment for plants and other organisms. Slime, a secretion of earthworms, contains nitrogen, an important plant nutrient. It is estimated that each year earthworms in one acre of land move 18 or more tons of soil.

Idioms and Phrases with wormlike

worm

In addition to the idioms beginning with worm

worm into
worm out of
worm turns, the

also see:

can of worms
early bird catches the worm

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

worm