Worm | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Worm, n.

noun

(wûrm) (34), n. [A.-S. wurm, wyrm, worm, L. Ger. & D. worm, Goth. vaurms, O. Sax., O. & N. H. Ger. wurm, Icel. ormr, Sw. & Dan. orm, allied to Lat. vermis.]

Sense 1. Originally, a creeping or a crawling animal of any kind or size; a serpent, caterpillar, snail, and the like. [Obs.]

There came a viper out of the heat, and leaped upon his hand. When the men of the country saw the worm hang on his hand, they said, This man must needs be a murderer. Acts xxviii. 3, 4, Tyndale’s Trans.

’Tis slander. *Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile.* Shak.

Sense 2. Any small, creeping animal, or reptile, either entirely without feet, or with very short ones, including a great variety of animals of different classes and orders.

Sense 3. (pl.) Animals which live and breed in the intestines of other animals, or those which breed in the stomach and bowels, as the tape-worm, thread-worm, and the like: Entozoa.

Sense 4. (Zoöl.) An animal of the inferior grand division of Articulates. See ANIMAL KINGDOM, and also HELMINTH.

Sense 5. Figuratively, an internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s conscience, as remorse.

The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul. Shak.

Sense 6. A being debased and despised.

I am a worm, and no man. Ps. xxii. 6.

Sense 7. Any thing spiral, vermiculated, or resembling a worm; as, (a.) The thread of a screw.

The threads of screws, when bigger than can be made in screw-plates, are called worms. Moxon.

(b.) A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing cartridges from fire-arms. (c.) A small worm-like ligament under a dog’s tongue, which is cut out in the operation of worming. See WORM, v. t. (d.) A spiral metallic pipe placed in a tub of water, through which vapor passes in distillation, in order to cool and condense it. (e.) (Mach.) A short, revolving screw, the threads of which drive a wheel by gearing into its teeth or cogs; a worm-wheel.

Blind worm, a sluggish, snake-like lizard (Anguis fragilis). It is common in Europe, living in holes in rocks, under stones, and in like places;—called also slow worm.

Worm, v. i.

verbintransitive

(wûrm), v. i. [imp. & p. p. WORMED; p. pr. & vb. n. WORMING.] To work slowly, gradually, and secretly.

*When debates and fretting jealousy Did worm and work within you more and more, Your color faded. Herbert.*

Worm, v. t.

verbtransitive

(wûrm), v. t. 1. To effect, remove, drive, or the like, by slow and secret means;—often followed by out. They find themselves wormed out of all power. Swift.

To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a fire-arm.
To cut a vermicular ligament, called a worm, from under the tongue of, as a dog, for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw. The operation was formerly supposed to guard against canine madness. “Can you worm a dog?” Shak.

The men assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies. W. Scott. 4. To wind rope, yarn, or other material spirally round, between the strands of, as a cable; to wind with spun-yarn, as a small rope. Ropes . . . are generally wormed before they are served. Totten. To worm one's self into, to enter gradually by arts and insinuations; as, to worm one's self into favor.