WORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does worm mean? 

• WORM (noun)
  The noun WORM has 4 senses:

1. any of numerous relatively small elongated soft-bodied animals especially of the phyla Annelida and Chaetognatha and Nematoda and Nemertea and Platyhelminthes; also many insect larvae

2. a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect

3. a software program capable of reproducing itself that can spread from one computer to the next over a network

4. screw thread on a gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or rack

  Familiarity information: WORM used as a noun is uncommon.

• WORM (verb)
  The verb WORM has 1 sense:

1. to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)

  Familiarity information: WORM used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous relatively small elongated soft-bodied animals especially of the phyla Annelida and Chaetognatha and Nematoda and Nemertea and Platyhelminthes; also many insect larvae

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("worm" is a kind of...):

invertebrate (any animal lacking a backbone or notochord; the term is not used as a scientific classification)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "worm"):

helminth; parasitic worm (worm that is parasitic on the intestines of vertebrates especially roundworms and tapeworms and flukes)

woodworm (a larva of a woodborer)

acanthocephalan; spiny-headed worm (any of various worms living parasitically in intestines of vertebrates having a retractile proboscis covered with many hooked spines)

arrowworm; chaetognath (any worm of the Chaetognatha; transparent marine worm with horizontal lateral and caudal fins and a row of movable curved spines at each side of the mouth)

flatworm; platyhelminth (parasitic or free-living worms having a flattened body)

nemertean; nemertine; proboscis worm; ribbon worm (soft unsegmented marine worms that have a threadlike proboscis and the ability to stretch and contract)

beard worm; pogonophoran (slender animal with tentacles and a tubelike outer covering; lives on the deep ocean bottom)

nematode; nematode worm; roundworm (unsegmented worms with elongated rounded body pointed at both ends; mostly free-living but some are parasitic)

annelid; annelid worm; segmented worm (worms with cylindrical bodies segmented both internally and externally)

Derivation:

wormy (infested with or damaged (as if eaten) by worms)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

dirt ball; insect; louse; worm

Hypernyms ("worm" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A software program capable of reproducing itself that can spread from one computer to the next over a network

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

worms take advantage of automatic file sending and receiving features found on many computers

Hypernyms ("worm" is a kind of...):

malevolent program (a computer program designed to have undesirable or harmful effects)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Screw thread on a gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or rack

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("worm" is a kind of...):

screw (a fastener with a tapered threaded shank and a slotted head)

Holonyms ("worm" is a part of...):

worm gear (gear consisting of a shaft with screw thread (the worm) that meshes with a toothed wheel (the worm wheel); changes the direction of the axis of rotary motion)

• WORM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they worm    ... he / she / it worms   
Past simple: wormed   
Past participle: wormed   
-ing form: worming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

To move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

squirm; twist; worm; wrestle; wriggle; writhe

Context example:

The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt's embrace

Hypernyms (to "worm" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "worm"):

wrench (make a sudden twisting motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Another five minutes, Mr. Holmes, and I should have wormed out the whole story under their very noses.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Can't put this deal through too quick for me, you—you little worm!"

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

To determine how worms sense magnetic fields, the scientists tested genetically altered worms.

(Magnetic Field Sensor Unearthed in Worms, NIH)

The team created a model of the worm C. elegans, common in studies of cellular aging.

(Study reveals how collapse of protein processes is driver of aging and death, National Science Foundation)

I had always been a book-worm; so my sisters and father had called me during my childhood.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The species of microsporidia we study only grows inside the intestine of the worm — it can't grow outside.

(New Pathway for Handling Stress Discovered, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The presence of living worms in the body is mainly asymptomatic but the death of adult worms leads to granulomatous inflammation and permanent fibrosis.

(Filariasis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A parasitic infection caused by genus of filarial worms called Dipetalonema.

(Dipetalonemiasis, NCI Thesaurus)

A parasitic infection characterized by the infestation with worms, mainly in the intestine.

(Helminthiasis, NCI Thesaurus)

But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)