squirm

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To twist your body uncomfortably, especially out of shame or embarrassment.

   I told the embarrassing story in detail just to watch him squirm.

2. 2
   verb

   To twist and move your body in a snakelike way.

   The prisoner managed to squirm out of the ropes.

3. 3
   noun

   A twisting, wriggling movement of the body.

   With one quick squirm, the puppy slipped free of her arms.

First recorded 1690's, originally used of eels; cognate with Scots squimmer (“to wriggle, squirm”). Of uncertain origin. Compare dialectal quirm, whirm (“to disappear quickly, vanish suddenly and mysteriously”), Norwegian kverva (“to turn around, take away, remove, shrink”), from Old Norse hverfa (“to turn, vanish”). Alternatively, perhaps imitative or related to worm (in the sense of writhing movement) or swarm.

Topics