Worms

[ wurmz; German vawrms ]

/ wɜrmz; German vɔrms /

noun

a city in E Rhineland-Palatinate, in SW Germany.

Diet of, the council, or diet, held here (1521) at which Luther was condemned as a heretic.

Definition for worms (2 of 2)

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

Example sentences from the Web for worms

The NPS also believes in roads and tourist viewing; like most government institutions, it is a can of worms.

American Wilderness Faces the Firing Squad |Doug Peacock |July 6, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Worms and amphipods, along with other animals, use or bury the pellets, which Havens observed after preliminary experiments.

Your Favorite Facewash Is Hurting Nemo |Alexa C. Kurzius |June 18, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Ron Paul thinks getting rid of courts just because they issue unpopular rulings is "opening up a can of worms."

Fox News GOP Debate in Iowa: Live Updates | |December 16, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
The members of this order live very largely on insects and worms, and the name Insectivora means insect-eating.

The Burgess Animal Book for Children |Thornton W. Burgess

It was of wood, destroyed and swept to sea by a storm; rebuilt, and again destroyed by worms.

Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast |Samuel Adams Drake
Fear not worms of clay; the moth shall eat them as a garment.

Letters of Samuel Rutherford |Samuel Rutherford
The beast tears its victims to death, the tree feeds the worms; is not a tree, therefore, purer than a beast?

The Story of My Mind |M. M. Mangasarian
Young turkeys are sometimes attacked by fasciolæ, or worms in the trachea; but not so often as chickens.

Sheep, Swine, and Poultry |Robert Jennings

British Dictionary definitions for worms (1 of 4)

worms

/ (wɜːmz) /

noun

(functioning as singular) any disease or disorder, usually of the intestine, characterized by infestation with parasitic worms

British Dictionary definitions for worms (2 of 4)

Worms

/ (wɜːmz, German vɔrms) /

noun

a city in SW Germany, in Rhineland-Palatinate on the Rhine: famous as the seat of imperial diets, notably that of 1521, before which Luther defended his doctrines in the presence of Charles V; river port and manufacturing centre with a large wine trade. Pop: 81 100 (2003 est)

British Dictionary definitions for worms (3 of 4)

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 worms (4 of 4)

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 worms

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 worms

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 worms

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

Worms

noun

Definition for worms (2 of 2)