cankerworm

American  

[kang-ker-wurm] / ˈkæŋ kərˌwɜrm /

noun

1. an inchworm, the larva of either of two geometrid moths, Paleacrita vernata spring cankerworm and Alsophila pometaria fall cankerworm: a foliage pest of various fruit and shade trees.

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cankerworm British  

/ ˈkæŋkəˌwɜːm /

noun

1. the larva of either of two geometrid moths, Paleacrita vernata or Alsophila pometaria, which feed on and destroy fruit and shade trees in North America

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Etymology

Origin of cankerworm

First recorded in 1520–30; canker + worm

Example Sentences

Chickadees and other winter-resident birds can protect orchards against the cankerworm.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

"Let us trust to Heaven to remove the cankerworm that is gnawing our vitals."

From The Fortunate Youth by Locke, William John

Sickness, like a cankerworm, was gnawing at her life, and dragging her towards the tomb.

From Poor Folk by Hogarth, C. J.

Her son was not, and her fair daughter was withering before her, as a flower on which the cankerworm had fixed its teeth.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 14 by Various

The common chickadee destroys in twenty-five days more than a hundred thousand eggs of the cankerworm moth, and the chickadee is one of our smallest birds.

From Friends and Helpers by Eddy, Sarah J.