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worm

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Worm, WORM, and Wörm

English

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A worm

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *wurmiz
Proto-West Germanic *wurmi
Old English wyrm
Middle English worm
English worm

    From Middle English werm, wirm, worm, worme, wrim, wurm, wyrm, wyrme, from Old English weorm, wurm, wyrm, from Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (“worm; snake”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm; larva”), possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of vermin and wyrm, the latter of which is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.

    (computing): First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.

    Cognates

    Germanic cognates include North Frisian wörem, wörm, Würem (“worm”), Saterland Frisian Wurm, Wúurm (“worm”), West Frisian wjirm (“worm”), Alemannic German Wüüre (“worm”), Cimbrian bórm (“worm”), burm (“snake”), Dutch worm, wurm (“worm”), German Gewürm (“vermin”), Wurm (“worm”), Low German Worm (“worm”), Luxembourgish Wuerm (“worm”), Mòcheno burm (“snake”), Vilamovian vūəm, wüm (“worm”), Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem, “worm”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish orm (“worm”), Faroese and Icelandic ormur (“worm”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“worm”), yrme, yrmle (“female snake with offspring”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 (waurms, “snake”), Kildin Sami уррьм (urr’m, “gadfly larva”), Skolt Sami uʹrmm (“gadfly larva”).

    Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμοξ (rhómox), ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    worm (plural worms)

    1. A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
        ‘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. […]’
    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. See Appendix:English worms.
    3. (archaic or poetic) Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake (cf. “dragon”; blindworm, slowworm, “legless lizard”), snail, or caterpillar.
      2. (informal or poetic, loosely) A maggot or any other insect larva with similar shape and behavior.
        Those little wriggling worms are the larvae of flies who laid eggs here.
    4. (archaic or poetic) A dragon, today especially Germanic dragon, more often of the serpentine or wingless type, for example sea serpent, but also any kind of dragon.
      • a. 1398, John Trevisa, transl. Bartholomeus Anglicus as De Proprietatibus Rerum (MS BL Add. 27944), Vol. I, p. 628:
      • 1922, A. Walsh, Scandinavian Relations with Ireland during the Viking Period:
        In the Cross of Cong (A.D. 1123) the Celtic inter-laced patterns are found side by side with the "worm-dragon" ornament ..
      • 1936, J. R. R. Tolkien, Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics, Norwood, Pa.: Norwood Editions, published 1976, page 9:
        Indeed the allusion to the more renowned worm killed by the Wælsing is sufficient indication that the poet selected a dragon of well-founded purpose[.]
      • 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 39:
        The after fifty years a foul worm, a dragon, took it upon itself to hold sway through the heavens at night.
      Synonym: wyrm
      1. (fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless),[1] a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.[2]
    5. A contemptible or devious being.
      Don't try to run away, you little worm!
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 22:6:
        But I am a worme, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
      • 1707, Isaac Watts, “Godly Sorrow ariſing from the Sufferings of Chriſt”, in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, London: J. Humfreys, page 86:
        Would he devote that Sacred Head
        For ſuch a Worm as I?
      • 1779, John Newton, “Prayer anſwered by croſſes”, in Olney hymns, in three books, London: W. Oliver, page 353:
        Lord, why is this, I trembling cry'd,
        Wilt thou purſue thy worm to death?
    6. (computing) A self-replicating program that propagates through a network by copying itself, differing from a virus which seeks to propagate by inserting its code into other executable files.
      When Trevor opened his email, a worm spread to 100 people in his address book.
    7. (cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.
    8. Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
      • 1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises:
        If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith
      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.
      5. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
      7. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.
        Synonym: worm screw
        Holonyms: worm drive, worm and wheel
        Comeronyms: (the wheel component) worm wheel, worm gear
    9. (figuratively) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
    10. (mathematics) A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
    11. (anatomy) The lytta.
    12. (preceded by definite article) A dance, or dance move, in which the dancer lies on the floor and undulates the body horizontally.

    Usage notes

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    • It is common to use the plural form worms to refer to intestinal or other internal parasites.
    • Although the use of the "worm" to mean "dragon" or "serpent" is archaic, those meanings are in current use in the word "wyrm" which is a doublet of "worm". Wyrm is a fairly recent borrowing directly from the Old English.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
    Translations to be checked

    References

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    1. ^ Dragon (Middle-earth) at Wikipedia
    2. ^ Sandworm (Dune) at Wikipedia

    Verb

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    worm (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.
      We wormed our way through the underbrush.
      • 1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 80:
        I took a firm grip of Josella's hand, and we started to worm our way along as unobviously as possible.
    2. (intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
      • 1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds and beast:
        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 […].
    3. (intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
      • [1633], 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, […], →OCLC:
        When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded.
    4. (transitive, figuratively) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
      He wormed his way into the organization.
      • 2021 May 27, Andrew Orlowski, “You think the BBC is biased? Check out Wokepedia”, in The Telegraph‎[3]:
        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.
    5. (often followed by out) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
    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).
    7. (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.
    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.
    10. (transitive) To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.

    Translations

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    to move with one's body dragging the ground

    See also

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    References

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    • [5] The Free Dictionary, Farlex Inc., 2010.

    Anagrams

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    Cornish

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    Adjective

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    worm

    1. soft mutation of gorm
    2. mixed mutation after 'th of gorm

    Dutch

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    Alternative forms

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    Pronunciation

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    Etymology 1

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    From Middle Dutch worm, from Old Dutch *wurm, *worm, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis. Compare English worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Danish orm.

    Noun

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    worm m (plural wormen, diminutive wormpje n)

    1. worm, vernacular term for various, mostly legless invertebrates; often nematodes or legless arthropod larvae.
      Als God niet wou dat we wormen in gingen snuiven, had Hij ze niet cilindervormig gemaakt! ― If God didn't want us to snort worms, He wouldn't have made them cylindrical!
    Derived terms
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    Descendants
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    • Afrikaans: wurm
    • Berbice Creole Dutch: worum
    • Negerhollands: worm, wurum
    See also
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    Etymology 2

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    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Verb

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    worm

    1. inflection of wormen:
      1. first-person singular present indicative
      2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
      3. imperative

    Middle English

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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      From Old English wyrm, from Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      worm (plural wormes or (mostly early) wormen)

      1. A worm or insect resembling one:
        1. An insect that infests organic matter (e.g. a maggot)
        2. A parasitic worm (especially of the stomach)
        3. A worm symbolising regret or malice.
      2. A snake or snakish monster:
        1. A dragon (mythological lizard)
        2. A monster that torments sinners in Hell.
      3. Any pestilential or creeping creature.
      4. A pauper, miser, or other contemptuous individual.
      5. (Christianity, rare) Satan, the Devil.
      6. (veterinary medicine, rare) A muscle under a dog's tongue.

      Declension

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      Declension of worm
      singular plural
      (nominative/accusative) worm wormes, wormen
      genitive wormes wormes, wormene
      dative — —
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      Descendants

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      References

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      Portuguese

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      Portuguese Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia pt

      Etymology

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      Etymology tree
      Proto-Germanic *wurmiz
      Proto-West Germanic *wurmi
      Old English wyrm
      Middle English worm
      English wormubor.
      Portuguese worm

        Unadapted borrowing from English worm.

        Pronunciation

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        Noun

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        worm m (plural worms)

        1. (computer security) worm (self-replicating program)

        Further reading

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        Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=worm&oldid=93529749"