worm

[ wurm ]

noun

1. Zoology. any of numerous long, slender, soft-bodied, legless, bilaterally symmetrical invertebrates, including the flatworms, roundworms, acanthocephalans, nemerteans, gordiaceans, and annelids.
2. (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.
3. something resembling or suggesting a worm in appearance, movement, etc.
4. Informal. a groveling, abject, or contemptible person.
5. the spiral pipe in which the vapor is condensed in a still.
6. (not in technical use) screw thread ( def 1 ).
7. screw conveyor.
8. Also called worm screw. a rotating cylinder or shaft, cut with one or more helical threads, that engages with and drives a worm wheel.
9. something that penetrates, injures, or consumes slowly or insidiously, like a gnawing worm.
10. 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.
11. (used with a plural verb) Metallurgy. irregularities visible on the surfaces of some metals subject to plastic deformation.
12. the lytta of a dog or other carnivorous animal.
13. 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)

1. to move or act like a worm; creep, crawl, or advance slowly or stealthily.
2. to achieve something by insidious procedure (usually followed by into ):

   to worm into another's favor.

3. Metallurgy. craze ( def 8a ).

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to move or advance in a devious or stealthy manner:

   The thief wormed his hand into my coat pocket.

2. to get by persistent, insidious efforts (usually followed by out or from ):

   to worm a secret out of a person.

3. to insinuate (oneself or one's way) into another's favor, confidence, etc.:

   to worm his way into the king's favor.

4. to free from worms:

   He wormed the puppies.

5. 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.

worm

¹

/ wɜːm /

noun

1. any of various invertebrates, esp the annelids (earthworms, etc), nematodes (roundworms), and flatworms, having a slender elongated body vermicular
2. any of various insect larvae having an elongated body, such as the silkworm and wireworm
3. any of various unrelated animals that resemble annelids, nematodes, etc, such as the glow-worm and shipworm
4. a gnawing or insinuating force or agent that torments or slowly eats away
5. a wretched or spineless person
6. anything that resembles a worm in appearance or movement
7. 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
8. a spiral pipe cooled by air or flowing water, used as a condenser in a still
9. a nontechnical name for lytta
10. anatomy any wormlike organ, structure, or part, such as the middle lobe of the cerebellum ( vermis cerebelli ) Technical namevermis
11. computing a program that duplicates itself many times in a network and prevents its destruction. It often carries a logic bomb or virus

verb

1. to move, act, or cause to move or act with the slow sinuous movement of a worm
2. foll byin, into, out of, etc to make (one's way) slowly and stealthily; insinuate (oneself)
3. tr; often foll by out of or from to extract (information, a secret, etc) from by persistent questioning
4. tr to free from or purge of worms
5. 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

WORM

²

/ wɜːm /

acronym for

1. write once read many times: an optical disk that enables users to store data but not change it

worm

/ wûrm /

1. 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.
2. 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.

Derived Forms

• ˈwormer, noun
• ˈwormˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• wormer noun
• wormlike wormish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of worm¹

before 900; Middle English (noun); Old English wyrm, dragon, serpent, worm; cognate with Dutch worm, German Wurm, Old Norse ormr; akin to Latin vermis

Word History and Origins

Origin of worm¹

Old English wyrm; related to Old Frisian wirm, Old High German wurm, Old Norse ormr, Gothic waurms, Latin vermis, Greek romos woodworm

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

• can of worms
• early bird catches the worm

Example Sentences

It's not known whether he took a dose of it when he purportedly had a parasitic worm in his brain "which ate a portion of it and then died."

From Salon

His admission that he had suffered from a brain worm, and a separate story about his dumping of a dead bear in New York's Central Park, dominated headlines for days.

From BBC

Mistakes, yes – but honest ones, only for the emergence of the Coote video to reopen a very large can of worms, presenting a crisis for Webb and PGMOL.

From BBC

This is a man who, even aside from the worm in his brain and his propensity for collecting roadkill, is one of the biggest conspiracy theorists in the country.

From Salon

Even a meek worm can suddenly turn around and resist.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ambush
• crawl
• creep
• evade
• hide
• slink
• slip
• slither
• smuggle
• steal