Word: worm Part of Speech: verb Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *wurmiz Proto-West Germanic *wurmi Old English wyrm Middle English worm English worm From Middle English werm, wirm, worm, worme, wrim, wurm, wyrm, wyrme, from Old English weorm, wurm, wyrm, from Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (“worm; snake”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm; larva”), 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 North Frisian wörem, wörm, Würem (“worm”), Saterland Frisian Wurm, Wúurm (“worm”), West Frisian wjirm (“worm”), Alemannic German Wüüre (“worm”), Cimbrian bórm (“worm”), burm (“snake”), Dutch worm, wurm (“worm”), German Gewürm (“vermin”), Wurm (“worm”), Low German Worm (“worm”), Luxembourgish Wuerm (“worm”), Mòcheno burm (“snake”), Vilamovian vūəm, wüm (“worm”), Yiddish וואָרעם (vorem, “worm”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish orm (“worm”), Faroese and Icelandic ormur (“worm”), Norwegian Nynorsk orm (“worm”), yrme, yrmle (“female snake with offspring”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 (waurms, “snake”), Kildin Sami уррьм (urr’m, “gadfly larva”), Skolt Sami uʹrmm (“gadfly larva”). Indo-European cognates include Latin vermis (“worm”), Ancient Greek ῥόμοξ (rhómox), ῥόμος (rhómos, “woodworm”), Albanian rrime (“rainworm”). Pronunciation: /wɜːm/, /wɝm/ 1. To make (one's way) with a crawling motion. Labels: transitive Example: We wormed our way through the underbrush. Example: I took a firm grip of Josella's hand, and we started to worm our way along as unobviously as possible. 2. To move with one's body dragging the ground. Labels: intransitive Example: Inch by inch I wormed along the secret passageway, flat to the ground, not once raising my head, hardly daring to pull a full breath[…]. 3. To work one's way by artful or devious means. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: When debates and fretting jealousy / Did worm and work within you more and more, / Your colour faded. 4. To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: He wormed his way into the organization. Example: With “facts” generated by Wikipedia worming themselves into every corner of our digital lives, such as your Alexa speaker or iPhone, perhaps it’s the ubiquity of information that’s the problem – and something that should concern us all. 5. To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means. Labels: often Example: They […]find themselves wormed out of all power. 6. To drag out of, to get information that someone is reluctant or unwilling to give (through artful or devious means or by pleading or asking repeatedly). Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: They[…]wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell. Example: He nodded. "Mum's the word, Mrs. Bunting! It'll all be in the last editions of the evening newspapers—it can't be kep' out. There'd be too much of a row if twas!" "Are you going off to that public-house now?" she asked. "I've got a awk'ard job—to try and worm something out of the barmaid." 7. To fill in the contlines of (a rope) before parcelling and serving. Labels: transitive Example: Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way. Example: Ropes[…]are generally wormed before they are served. 8. To deworm (an animal). Labels: transitive 9. To cut the worm, or lytta, from under the tongue of (a dog, etc.) for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw, and formerly supposed to guard against canine madness. Labels: transitive Example: The men[…] assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies. 10. To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm. Labels: transitive