ver·min

[vur-min]
noun, plural ver·min.
1.
noxious, objectionable, or disgusting animals collectively, especially those of small size that appear commonly and are difficult to control, as flies, lice, bedbugs, cockroaches, mice, and rats.
2.
an objectionable or obnoxious person, or such persons collectively.
3.
animals that prey upon game, as coyotes or weasels.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English vermyne < Anglo-French, Middle French vermin, vermine < Vulgar Latin *verminum, *vermina, based on Latin vermin-; see verminate

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To vermin
Collins
World English Dictionary
vermin (ˈvɜːmɪn) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n , -min
1.  (functioning as plural) small animals collectively, esp insects and rodents, that are troublesome to man, domestic animals, etc
2.  an unpleasant, obnoxious, or dangerous person
 
[C13: from Old French vermine, from Latin vermis a worm]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
00:10
Vermin is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

vermin
c.1300, "noxious animals," from Anglo-Fr. and O.Fr. vermin, from V.L. *verminum "vermin," possibly including bothersome insects, collective noun formed from L. vermis "worm" (see worm). Extended to "low, obnoxious people" by 1562.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

vermin ver·min (vûr'mĭn)
n. pl. vermin
Any of various small animals or insects, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
Example sentences
Her bones had been gnawed by animals, and the remaining bits of unwanted flesh
  and clothing were scattered by storms and vermin.
It's also important to clean up dead insects or dead vermin, which can be a
  source of food for vermin.
Considered vermin, tens of thousands are destined to be slaughtered every year
  in a variety of ugly ways.
And they'd one day send their vermin up again to die on the streets of a free
  city.
Image for vermin
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT