† devil's gold ringn.
Obsolete.
Originally: any of various caterpillars that feed on vines or other garden plants (now rare). In later use also: any of several hairy caterpillars, esp. of the fox moth ( Macrothylacia rubi) and garden tiger moth ( Arctia caja), which are dark with reddish or orange markings and curl into a ring when disturbed.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Lepidoptera or butterflies and moths > [noun] > larva > that eats or destroys plants
leaf wormOE
wortworma1382
cole-worm1468
cole-wort worm1552
devil's gold ring1552
canker-blossom1600
peach-worm1814
knife-worm1860
hop-dog1872
nettle grub1890
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Canker worme which creapeth..on colewortes. Some do call them the deuyls goldrynge, & some the colewort worme.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 547 (margin) . Vine fretter, or the Divels gold-ring.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. ix. 189/2 The Whirl-worm, or Devils Gold-Ring, (from its lying round) or Cater-pillar, [feedeth] on Vines.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Dict. in Compl. Gard'ner sig. Aiii Devils Gold Ring, in French, Lisette, a sort of a Worm or Cater-pillar infesting the young shoots of Vines.
1720 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Eng. Insects Descr. Pl. lxxxi. This Caterpillar, is called by the Country People the Devil's Gold Ring, but we distinguish it by the Name of the Fox.
1763 R. Brookes New Syst. Nat. Hist. IV. xi. 231 The hairy Caterpillar is brown and red, and changes to a Moth, called by the English peasants the devil's Gold ring.
1783 Ainsworth's Thes. Linguæ Latinæ (new ed.) I. at Devil The devil's gold ring (a caterpillar).
1847 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words I Devil's-Gold-Ring. A palmer worm.
1870 C. Kingsley Let. 9 Apr. in Lett. & Memories (1877) II. 318 A hairy caterpillar, which children call the ‘devil's gold ring’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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