worm

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from Old English wyrm serpent, worm; akin to Old High German wurm serpent, worm, Latin vermis worm Date: before 12th century 1. a. earthworm; broadly an annelid worm b. any of numerous relatively small elongated usually naked and soft-bodied animals (as a grub, pinworm, tapeworm, shipworm, or slowworm) 2. a. a human being who is an object of contempt, loathing, or pity ; wretch b. something that torments or devours from within 3. archaic snake, serpent 4. helminthiasis — usually used in plural 5. something (as a mechanical device) spiral or vermiculate in form or appearance: as a. the thread of a screw b. a short revolving screw whose threads gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or a rack c. Archimedes' screw; also a conveyor working on the principle of such a screw 6. a usually small self-contained and self-replicating computer program that invades computers on a network and usually performs a destructive action • wormlike adjective II. verb Date: 1610 intransitive verb to move or proceed sinuously or insidiously transitive verb 1. a. to proceed or make (one's way) insidiously or deviously <

worm their way into positions of power — Bill Franzen

> b. to insinuate or introduce (oneself) by devious or subtle means c. to cause to move or proceed in or as if in the manner of a worm 2. to wind rope or yarn spirally round and between the strands of (a cable or rope) before serving 3. to obtain or extract by artful or insidious questioning or by pleading, asking, or persuading — usually used with out of <

finally wormed the truth out of him

> 4. to treat (an animal) with a drug to destroy or expel parasitic worms