worm

Etymology

From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm (“worm, snake”), from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis, possibly from *wer- (“to turn”). Doublet of wyrm, 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 Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Swedish orm (“snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“earthworm or snake”), Danish orm and Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem). Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian var̃mas (“insect, midge”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”).

noun

1. 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 sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’ 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess
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.
3. (archaic) A type of wingless "dragon", especially a gigantic sea serpent.
4. (fantasy, science fiction) Either a mythical "dragon" (especially wingless), a gigantic sea serpent, or a creature that resembles a Mongolian death worm.
5. A contemptible or devious being.
   Don't try to run away, you little worm!
6. (computing) A self-replicating program that propagates through a network.
7. (cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored in an innings.
8. Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
   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.
   4. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
   5. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel or rack by gearing into its teeth.
9. (obsolete) Any creeping or crawling animal, such as a snake, snail, or caterpillar.
   1561, Geneva Bible, Acts 28:3-4, And when Paul had gathered a nomber of stickes, & laid them on the fyre, there came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. Now when the Barbarians sawe the worme hang on his hand, they said among them selues This man surely is a murtherer, whome, thogh he hathe escaped the sea, yet Vengeance hathe not suffred to liue.
   When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm! His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks; Not a limb had he that was motionless. 1867, Dante Alighieri, “The Divine Comedy”, in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, transl., Inferno, volume I, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, Canto 6, lines 22-24, p. 35
10. (figurative) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one’s mind with remorse.
11. (mathematics) A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.
12. (anatomy) The lytta.
13. (preceded by definite article) A dance, or dance move, in which the dancer lies on the floor and undulates the body horizontally thereby moving forwards.

verb

1. (transitive) To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
   We wormed our way through the underbrush.
2. (intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
   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[…]. 1919, William Joseph Long, How animals talk: and other pleasant studies of birds and beast
3. (intransitive, figurative) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
4. (transitive, figurative) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
   He wormed his way into the organization.
   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. 2021-05-27, Andrew Orlowski, “You think the BBC is biased? Check out Wokepedia”, in The Telegraph
5. (often followed by out) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means.
   They […]find themselves wormed out of all power. 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit
6. (transitive, figurative, 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.
   Ropes[…]are generally wormed before they are served. 1841, Benjamin J. Totten, Naval Text-Book
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.