释义 |
worm /wûrm/ noun- A small long slender cylindrical animal without backbone or limbs, esp one of the classes Polychaeta and Oligochaeta, including the earthworm and marine worm
- Any superficially similar but unrelated animal, such as the flatworms (Platyhelminthes) and the roundworms (Nematoda)
- A grub
- A maggot
- A snake or a dragon (archaic)
- Any creeping or crawling animal (obsolete)
- Anything spiral
- The thread of a screw
- The lytta or vermiform cartilage of the tongue of a dog or other carnivorous mammal
- A spiral pipe for condensation in distilling
- Anything that corrupts, gnaws or torments
- Remorse
- A mean, grovelling or in any way contemptible creature
- (in pl) any intestinal disease characterized by the presence of parasitic worms
- Any ailment supposed to be caused by a worm, eg toothache (obsolete)
- A tick or mite in the hand, etc, esp one alleged humorously to infest the hands of idlers (obsolete)
- A piece of software designed, like a virus, for sabotage, differing from a virus in being an independent program rather than a piece of coding, which, once inserted into a network, reproduces itself like a parasitic worm throughout it (computing)
- A graph displaying the progress of something, eg shifts in opinion, as a moving line
intransitive verb- To seek for or catch worms
- To move or make one's way like a worm, to squirm
- To work slowly or secretly
transitive verb- To treat for or rid of worms
- To cause to be eaten by worms
- (reflexive) to work (oneself) slowly or secretly
- To elicit by slow and indirect means (with out or from)
- To remove the lytta or vermiform cartilage from the tongue of
- To fill the interstices in (a rope or cable) with spirally wound cord or packing (orig nautical)
ORIGIN: OE wyrm dragon, snake, creeping animal; cognate with Gothic waurms a serpent, ON ormr, Ger Wurm; also with L vermis wormed adjective Bored through or damaged by worms wormˈer noun wormˈery noun A place, apparatus, etc in which worms are bred, eg as fishing bait wormˈiness noun wormˈlike adjective wormˈy adjective - Like a worm
- Grovelling
- Containing a worm
- Abounding in worms
- Relating to worms
- Dank-smelling
- Dismal, like the grave
wormˈcast noun A spiral heap of earth voided by an earthworm or lugworm as it burrows worm conveyor noun The Archimedean screw (qv) wormˈ-eaten adjective - Eaten into by worms
- Old
- Worn-out
wormˈ-eating adjective Living habitually on worms worm fence noun A zigzag fence formed of stakes crossing at their ends worm fever noun A feverish condition in children ascribed to intestinal worms worm gear noun A gear connecting shafts whose axes are at right angles but do not intersect, consisting of a core carrying a single- or multi-start helical thread of special form (the worm), meshing in sliding contact with a concave-face gear-wheel (the worm wheel) worm gearing noun worm grass noun - Pinkroot, any of several types of pink, whose roots are used as a vermifuge
- A kind of stonecrop (Sedum album)
wormˈhole noun - The hole made by a woodworm, earthworm, etc
- A hypothetical tunnel in space-time, serving as a short cut between widely distant parts of it (physics)
wormˈholed adjective Perforated by wormholes worm lizard noun A blind, limbless burrowing lizard of the family Amphisbaenidae worm powder noun A drug that expels intestinal worms, a vermifuge wormˈseed noun - Any of a number of plants that (are said to) have anthelmintic properties, ie expel or destroy intestinal worms, such as certain species of Artemisia (eg Artemisia santonica), Erysimum cheiranthoides (treacle wormseed or treacle mustard), Chenopodium anthelminticum, etc
- The drug santonica
worm's eye view noun The view of events as seen from a low or humble position worm tube noun The twisted shell or tube produced by several marine worms worm wheel see worm gear above. the worm may turn The most abject of victims may be goaded into retaliating |