worm : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: worm	by the DICT Development Group
9 results for worm
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
worm n 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 a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect Synonym(s): worm, louse, insect, dirt ball a software program capable of reproducing itself that can spread from one computer to the next over a network; "worms take advantage of automatic file sending and receiving features found on many computers" screw thread on a gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or rack v to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling); "The prisoner writhed in discomfort"; "The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt's embrace" Synonym(s): writhe, wrestle, wriggle, worm, squirm, twist
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Worm \Worm\ (w[ucir]rm), n. [OE. worm, wurm, AS. wyrm; akin to D. worm, OS. & G. wurm, Icel. ormr, Sw. & Dan. orm, Goth. wa[a3]rms, L. vermis, Gr. [?] a wood worm. Cf. {Vermicelli}, {Vermilion}, {Vermin}.] 1. A creeping or a crawling animal of any kind or size, as a serpent, caterpillar, snail, or the like. [Archaic] There came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. When the men of the country saw the worm hang on his hand, they said, This man must needs be a murderer. --Tyndale (Acts xxviii. 3, 4). 'T is slander, Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile. --Shak. When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm, His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks. --Longfellow. 2. Any small creeping animal or reptile, either entirely without feet, or with very short ones, including a great variety of animals; as, an earthworm; the blindworm. Specifically: (Zo[94]l.) (a) Any helminth; an entozo[94]n. (b) Any annelid. (c) An insect larva. (d) pl. Same as {Vermes}. 3. An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one's mind with remorse. The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! --Shak. 4. A being debased and despised. I am a worm, and no man. --Ps. xxii. 6. 5. Anything spiral, vermiculated, or resembling a worm; as: (a) The thread of a screw. The threads of screws, when bigger than can be made in screw plates, are called worms. --Moxon. (b) A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms. (c) (Anat.) A certain muscular band in the tongue of some animals, as the dog; the lytta. See {Lytta}. (d) The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to economize space. See Illust. of {Still}. (e) (Mach.) A short revolving screw, the threads of which drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel by gearing into its teeth or cogs. See Illust. of {Worm gearing}, below. {Worm abscess} (Med.), an abscess produced by the irritation resulting from the lodgment of a worm in some part of the body. {Worm fence}. See under {Fence}. {Worm gear}. (Mach.) (a) A worm wheel. (b) Worm gearing. {Worm gearing}, gearing consisting of a worm and worm wheel working together. {Worm grass}. (Bot.) (a) See {Pinkroot}, 2 (a) . (b) The white stonecrop ({Sedum album}) reputed to have qualities as a vermifuge. --Dr. Prior. {Worm oil} (Med.), an anthelmintic consisting of oil obtained from the seeds of {Chenopodium anthelminticum}. {Worm powder} (Med.), an anthelmintic powder. {Worm snake}. (Zo[94]l.) See {Thunder snake} (b), under {Thunder}. {Worm tea} (Med.), an anthelmintic tea or tisane. {Worm tincture} (Med.), a tincture prepared from dried earthworms, oil of tartar, spirit of wine, etc. [Obs.] {Worm wheel}, a cogwheel having teeth formed to fit into the spiral spaces of a screw called a worm, so that the wheel may be turned by, or may turn, the worm; -- called also {worm gear}, and sometimes {tangent wheel}. See Illust. of {Worm gearing}, above.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Worm \Worm\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Wormed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Worming}.] To work slowly, gradually, and secretly. When debates and fretting jealousy Did worm and work within you more and more, Your color faded. --Herbert.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Worm \Worm\, v. t. 1. To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; -- often followed by out. They find themselves wormed out of all power. --Swift. They . . . wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell. --Dickens. 2. To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm. See {Worm}, n. 5 (b) . 3. To cut the worm, or lytta, from under the tongue of, as a dog, for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw. The operation was formerly supposed to guard against canine madness. The men assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies. --Sir W. Scott. 4. (Naut.) To wind rope, yarn, or other material, spirally round, between the strands of, as a cable; to wind with spun yarn, as a small rope. Ropes . . . are generally wormed before they are served. --Totten.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Screw \Screw\ (skr[udd]), n. [OE. scrue, OF. escroue, escroe, female screw, F. [82]crou, L. scrobis a ditch, trench, in LL., the hole made by swine in rooting; cf. D. schroef a screw, G. schraube, Icel. skr[umac]fa.] 1. A cylinder, or a cylindrical perforation, having a continuous rib, called the thread, winding round it spirally at a constant inclination, so as to leave a continuous spiral groove between one turn and the next, -- used chiefly for producing, when revolved, motion or pressure in the direction of its axis, by the sliding of the threads of the cylinder in the grooves between the threads of the perforation adapted to it, the former being distinguished as the external, or male screw, or, more usually the screw; the latter as the internal, or female screw, or, more usually, the nut. Note: The screw, as a mechanical power, is a modification of the inclined plane, and may be regarded as a right-angled triangle wrapped round a cylinder, the hypotenuse of the marking the spiral thread of the screw, its base equaling the circumference of the cylinder, and its height the pitch of the thread. 2. Specifically, a kind of nail with a spiral thread and a head with a nick to receive the end of the screw-driver. Screws are much used to hold together pieces of wood or to fasten something; -- called also {wood screws}, and {screw nails}. See also {Screw bolt}, below. 3. Anything shaped or acting like a screw; esp., a form of wheel for propelling steam vessels. It is placed at the stern, and furnished with blades having helicoidal surfaces to act against the water in the manner of a screw. See {Screw propeller}, below. 4. A steam vesel propelled by a screw instead of wheels; a screw steamer; a propeller. 5. An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint; a niggard. --Thackeray. 6. An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a student by an instructor. [Cant, American Colleges] 7. A small packet of tobacco. [Slang] --Mayhew. 8. An unsound or worn-out horse, useful as a hack, and commonly of good appearance. --Ld. Lytton. 9. (Math.) A straight line in space with which a definite linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated (cf. 5th {Pitch}, 10 (b) ). It is used to express the displacement of a rigid body, which may always be made to consist of a rotation about an axis combined with a translation parallel to that axis. 10. (Zo[94]l.) An amphipod crustacean; as, the skeleton screw ({Caprella}). See {Sand screw}, under {Sand}. {Archimedes screw}, {Compound screw}, {Foot screw}, etc. See under {Archimedes}, {Compound}, {Foot}, etc. {A screw loose}, something out of order, so that work is not done smoothly; as, there is a screw loose somewhere. --H. Martineau. {Endless, [or] perpetual, {screw}, a screw used to give motion to a toothed wheel by the action of its threads between the teeth of the wheel; -- called also a {worm}. {Lag screw}. See under {Lag}. {Micrometer screw}, a screw with fine threads, used for the measurement of very small spaces. {Right and left screw}, a screw having threads upon the opposite ends which wind in opposite directions. {Screw alley}. See {Shaft alley}, under {Shaft}. {Screw bean}. (Bot.) (a) The curious spirally coiled pod of a leguminous tree ({Prosopis pubescens}) growing from Texas to California. It is used for fodder, and ground into meal by the Indians. (b) The tree itself. Its heavy hard wood is used for fuel, for fencing, and for railroad ties. {Screw bolt}, a bolt having a screw thread on its shank, in distinction from a {key bolt}. See 1st {Bolt}, 3. {Screw box}, a device, resembling a die, for cutting the thread on a wooden screw. {Screw dock}. See under {Dock}. {Screw engine}, a marine engine for driving a screw propeller. {Screw gear}. See {Spiral gear}, under {Spiral}. {Screw jack}. Same as {Jackscrew}. {Screw key}, a wrench for turning a screw or nut; a spanner wrench. {Screw machine}. (a) One of a series of machines employed in the manufacture of wood screws. (b) A machine tool resembling a lathe, having a number of cutting tools that can be caused to act on the work successively, for making screws and other turned pieces from metal rods. {Screw pine} (Bot.), any plant of the endogenous genus {Pandanus}, of which there are about fifty species, natives of tropical lands from Africa to Polynesia; -- named from the spiral arrangement of the pineapple-like leaves. {Screw plate}, a device for cutting threads on small screws, consisting of a thin steel plate having a series of perforations with internal screws forming dies. {Screw press}, a press in which pressure is exerted by means of a screw. {Screw propeller}, a screw or spiral bladed wheel, used in the propulsion of steam vessels; also, a steam vessel propelled by a screw. {Screw shell} (Zo[94]l.), a long, slender, spiral gastropod shell, especially of the genus Turritella and allied genera. See {Turritella}. {Screw steamer}, a steamship propelled by a screw. {Screw thread}, the spiral rib which forms a screw. {Screw stone} (Paleon.), the fossil stem of an encrinite. {Screw tree} (Bot.), any plant of the genus {Helicteres}, consisting of about thirty species of tropical shrubs, with simple leaves and spirally twisted, five-celled capsules; -- also called {twisted-horn}, and {twisty}. {Screw valve}, a stop valve which is opened or closed by a screw. {Screw worm} (Zo[94]l.), the larva of an American fly ({Compsomyia macellaria}), allied to the blowflies, which sometimes deposits its eggs in the nostrils, or about wounds, in man and other animals, with fatal results. {Screw wrench}. (a) A wrench for turning a screw. (b) A wrench with an adjustable jaw that is moved by a screw. {To put the} {screw, [or] screws}, {on}, to use pressure upon, as for the purpose of extortion; to coerce. {To put under the} {screw [or] screws}, to subject to pressure; to force. {Wood screw}, a metal screw with a sharp thread of coarse pitch, adapted to holding fast in wood. See Illust. of {Wood screw}, under {Wood}.
From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [jargon]:
worm n. [from `tapeworm' in John Brunner's novel "The Shockwave Rider", via XEROX PARC] A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as it goes. Compare {virus}. Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is assumed that only {cracker}s write worms. Perhaps the best-known example was Robert T. Morris's {Great Worm} of 1988, a `benign' one that got out of control and hogged hundreds of Suns and VAXen across the U.S. See also {cracker}, {RTM}, {Trojan horse}, {ice}.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
WORM {Write-Once Read-Many}
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
worm (From "Tapeworm" in John Brunner's novel "The Shockwave Rider", via {XEROX PARC}) A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as it goes. Compare {virus}. Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is assumed that only {crackers} write worms. Perhaps the best-known example was the {Great Worm}. Compare {Trojan horse}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-09-17)
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Worm (1.) Heb. sas (Isa. 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the clothes-moth. (2.) The manna bred worms (tola'im), but on the Sabbath there was not any worm (rimmah) therein (Ex. 16:20, 24). Here these words refer to caterpillars or larvae, which feed on corrupting matter. These two Hebrew words appear to be interchangeable (Job 25:6; Isa. 14:11). Tola'im in some places denotes the caterpillar (Deut. 28:39; Jonah 4:7), and rimmah, the larvae, as bred from putridity (Job 17:14; 21:26; 24:20). In Micah 7:17, where it is said, "They shall move out of their holes like worms," perhaps serpents or "creeping things," or as in the Revised Version, "crawling things," are meant. The word is used figuratively in Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa. 41:14; Mark 9:44, 46, 48; Isa. 66:24.