n.
- an earthworm or other creeping or burrowing invertebrate animal having a long, slender soft body and no limbs.
[Annelida, Nematoda (roundworms), Platyhelminthes (flatworms), and other phyla.]
▸
(worms)
intestinal or other internal parasites.
▸used in names of long, slender insect larvae and other creatures, e.g. army worm, slow-worm.
▸a maggot regarded as eating dead bodies buried in the ground.
- informal a weak or despicable person.
- the threaded cylinder in a worm gear.
- the coiled pipe of a still in which the vapour is cooled and condensed.
- Computing a self-replicating program able to propagate itself across a network, typically having a detrimental effect.
v.
- move by crawling or wriggling.
-
(worm one's way into)
insinuate one's way into.
-
(worm something out of)
obtain information from by cunning persistence.
- treat (an animal) with a preparation designed to expel parasitic worms.
- Nautical, archaic make (a rope) smooth by winding thread between the strands.
Derivative
Etymology
OE wyrm (n.), of Gmc origin.