worm

A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum; an earthworm.

• ‘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 s

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.

• Leaning that I might eat, I stretched and clung Over 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 […]

Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake (cf. “dragon”; blindworm, slowworm, “legless lizard”), snail, or caterpillar.archaicpoetic

• A forlyued cok leiþ eiren in his laste elde... and ȝif any venemous worme sittiþ on broode þerevppon in þe canyculer dayes, þerof is igendrid... a cocatrice.

Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake (cf. “dragon”; blindworm, slowworm, “legless lizard”), snail, or caterpillar.; A maggot or any other insect larva with similar shape and behavior.archaicbroadlyinformal

• Those little wriggling worms are the larvae of flies who laid eggs here.

A dragon, today especially Germanic dragon, more often of the serpentine or wingless type, for example sea serpent, but also any kind of dragon.archaicpoetic

• a. 1398, John Trevisa, transl. Bartholomeus Anglicus as De Proprietatibus Rerum (MS BL Add. 27944), Vol. I, p. 628:

A dragon, today especially Germanic dragon, more often of the serpentine or wingless type, for example sea serpent, but also any kind of dragon.; Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.archaicpoetic

A contemptible or devious being.

• Don't try to run away, you little worm!

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.

A graphical representation of the total runs scored across a number of overs.

Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.

• If the Worms of the Nut or Spindle be worn, the Spindle must be examin'd by the Smith

To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.transitive

• We wormed our way through the underbrush.

To move with one's body dragging the ground.intransitive

• 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[…].

To work one's way by artful or devious means.figurativelyintransitive

• When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded.

To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.figurativelytransitive

• He wormed his way into the organization.

To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.often

• They […]find themselves wormed out of all power.

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).figurativelytransitive

• They[…]wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell.

To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving.transitive

• Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.

To deworm (an animal).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.transitive

• The men[…] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies.

To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.transitive