vermin : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: vermin	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for vermin
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
vermin n an irritating or obnoxious person [syn: vermin, varmint] any of various small animals or insects that are pests; e.g. cockroaches or rats; "cereals must be protected from mice and other vermin"; "he examined the child's head for vermin"; "boys in the village have probably been shooting vermin"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Vermin \Ver"min\, n. sing. & pl.; used chiefly as plural. [OE. vermine, F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a worm, L. verminosus full of worms. See {Vermicular}, {Worm}.] 1. An animal, in general. [Obs.] Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and vermin, and worms, and fowls. --Acts x. 12. (Geneva Bible). This crocodile is a mischievous fourfooted beast, a dangerous vermin, used to both elements. --Holland. 2. A noxious or mischievous animal; especially, noxious little animals or insects, collectively, as squirrels, rats, mice, flies, lice, bugs, etc. [bd]Cruel hounds or some foul vermin.[b8] --Chaucer. Great injuries these vermin, mice and rats, do in the field. --Mortimer. They disdain such vermin when the mighty boar of the forest . . . is before them. --Burke. 3. Hence, in contempt, noxious human beings. You are my prisoners, base vermin. --Hudibras.