worm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A long, thin, soft creature with no legs that lives in soil.

   After the rain, worms covered the garden path.

2. 2
   noun

   A program that copies itself and spreads from computer to computer over a network, often causing harm.

   The worm spread through the network in a matter of hours.

3. 3
   verb

   To move slowly forward with a twisting motion, especially through a tight space.

   I wormed my way out of my attacker's grasp.

4. 4
   noun

   A weak or unpleasant person who deserves contempt.

   Don't try to run away, you little worm!

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Worm comes from Old English wyrm or wurm, whose earliest meaning was “serpent” or “dragon.” It broadened to mean a crawling animal, reptile, or insect, and by about 1100 had acquired the narrower modern sense of an earthworm or similar creature.

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 vermin and wyrm, the latter of 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…

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External links

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