Definition of "worm"

worm

/wɜːm/

noun
plural worms
1. A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
  Quotations
  ‘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. […]’
  1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess‎
2. More loosely, any of various tubular invertebrates resembling annelids but not closely related to them, such as velvet worms, acorn worms, flatworms, or roundworms.
  Quotations
  Leaning that I might eat, I stretched and clungOver the shapeless depth in which those corpses hung.A woman’s shape, now lank and cold and blue,The dwelling of the many-coloured worm,Hung there […]
  1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, page 216
3. (archaic) A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent or any kind of dragon.
4. (fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.
5. A contemptible or devious being.
  Quotations
  But I am a worme, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Psalms 22:6
6. (computing) A self-replicating program that propagates through a network.
7. (cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
8. Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
  Quotations
  If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith
  1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises
  1. A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
  2. The spiral wire of a corkscrew.
  3. (anatomy) A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.
  4. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
  5. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.
9. (obsolete) Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar.
  Quotations
  And when Paul had gathered a nomber of stickes, & laid them on the fyre, there came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. Now when the Barbarians sawe the worme hang on his hand, they said among them selues This man surely is a murtherer, whome, thogh he hathe escaped the sea, yet Vengeance hathe not suffred to liue.
  1561, Geneva Bible, Acts 28:3-4
  […] No, ’tis slander,Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongueOutvenoms all the worms of Nile […]
  1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv]
  When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm!His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks;Not a limb had he that was motionless.
  1867, Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., Inferno‎, volume I, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, Canto 6, lines 22-24, p. 35
10. (figuratively) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
  Quotations
  The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul!
  c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene iii]
11. (mathematics) A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
12. (anatomy) The lytta.
13. (preceded by definite article) A dance, or dance move, in which the dancer lies on the floor and undulates the body horizontally thereby moving forwards.
verb
third-person singular simple present worms, present participle worming, simple past and past participle wormed
1. (transitive) To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
2. (intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
  Quotations
  Inch by inch I wormed along the secret passageway, flat to the ground, not once raising my head, hardly daring to pull a full breath […].
  1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds and beast
3. (intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
  Quotations
  When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded.
  , George Herbert, edited by [Nicholas Ferrar], The Temple: Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […]; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, […], 1885,
4. (transitive, figuratively) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
  Quotations
  With “facts” generated by Wikipedia worming themselves into every corner of our digital lives, such as your Alexa speaker or iPhone, perhaps it’s the ubiquity of information that’s the problem – and something that should concern us all.
  2021 May 27, Andrew Orlowski, “You think the BBC is biased? Check out Wokepedia”, in The Telegraph‎
5. (often followed by out) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
  Quotations
  They […] find themselves wormed out of all power.
  1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit
6. (transitive, figuratively, in “worm out of”) To drag out of, to get information that someone is reluctant or unwilling to give (through artful or devious means or by pleading or asking repeatedly).
  Quotations
  They […] wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell.
  1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850
  He nodded. "Mum's the word, Mrs. Bunting! It'll all be in the last editions of the evening newspapers—it can't be kep' out. There'd be too much of a row if twas!" "Are you going off to that public-house now?" she asked. "I've got a awk'ard job—to try and worm something out of the barmaid."
  1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter XXII, in The Lodger, London: Methuen; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], page 1738
7. (transitive, nautical) To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving.
  Quotations
  Ropes […] are generally wormed before they are served.
  1841, Benjamin J. Totten, Naval Text-Book‎
8. (transitive) To deworm (an animal).
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.
  Quotations
  The men […] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies.
  1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […]
10. (transitive) To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.

Definition of "worm"

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