Worm

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /wɜːm/
• US enPR: wûrm, IPA: /wɝm/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)m

Origin

From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm ‘snake, worm’, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (compare Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Danish orm), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (compare Latin vermis '‘worm’, Lithuanian var̃mas ‘insect, midge’, Albanian rrime ‘rainworm’, Ancient Greek ῥόμος ("woodworm")), possibly from *wer- ‘to turn’. First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.

Noun

1. A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 7, ‘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. â€¦â€™
2. A contemptible or devious being.
   Don't try to run away, you little worm!
• Bible, Psalms xxii. 6I am a worm, and no man.
3. (computing) A self-replicating program that propagates through a network.
4. (cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored in an innings.
5. Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
• MoxonThe threads of screws, when bigger than can be made in screw plates, are called worms.
1. A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
2. (anatomy) A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.
3. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
4. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel by gearing into its teeth or cogs.
6. (archaic) A dragon or mythological serpent.
7. (obsolete) Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar.
• Tyndale (Acts xxviii. 3, 4)There came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. When the men of the country saw the worm hang on his hand, they said, This man must needs be a murderer.
• Shakespeare'Tis slander,
  Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue
  Outvenoms all the worms of Nile.
• LongfellowWhen Cerberus perceived us, the great worm,
  His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks.
8. An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one's mind with remorse.
   The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!
   — Richard III, Shakespeare
9. (math) A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.

Full definition of worm

Verb

1. (transitive) To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.We wormed our way through the underbrush.
2. (intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
• HerbertWhen debates and fretting jealousy
  Did worm and work within you more and more,
  Your colour faded.
3. (transitive, figuratively) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.He wormed his way into the organization
4. To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; often followed by out.
• Jonathan SwiftThey find themselves wormed out of all power.
5. (transitive, figuratively) To obtain information from someone through artful or devious means (usually used with out of)
• DickensThey ... wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell.
• 1913, Marie Belloc Lowndes, The LodgerI've got a awk'ard job - to try and worm something out of the barmaid.
6. (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.
• TottenRopes ... are generally wormed before they are served.
7. (transitive) To deworm an animal.
8. (intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
• 1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds and beast‎Inch by inch I wormed along the secret passageway, flat to the ground, not once raising my head, hardly daring to pull a full breath ...
9. (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.
• Sir Walter ScottThe men assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies.
10. (transitive) To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.

Derived terms