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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

worm       (wûrm)  Pronunciation Key  n.   Any of various invertebrates, as those of the phyla Annelida, Nematoda, Nemertea, or Platyhelminthes, having a long, flexible, rounded or flattened body, often without obvious appendages. Any of various crawling insect larvae, such as a grub or a caterpillar, having a soft elongated body. Any of various unrelated animals, such as the shipworm or the slowworm, resembling a worm in habit or appearance. Something, such as the thread of a screw or the spiral condenser in a still, that resembles a worm in form or appearance. The spirally threaded shaft of a worm gear. An insidiously tormenting or devouring force: "felt the black worm of treachery growing in his heart" (Mario Puzo). A person regarded as pitiable or contemptible. worms Pathology Infestation of the intestines or other parts of the body with worms or wormlike parasites; helminthiasis. Computer Science A malicious program that replicates itself until it fills all of the storage space on a drive or network. v.   wormed, worm·ing, worms v.   tr. To make (one's way) with or as if with the sinuous crawling motion of a worm. To work (one's way or oneself) subtly or gradually; insinuate: She wormed her way into his confidence. To elicit by artful or devious means. Usually used with out of: wormed a confession out of the suspect. To cure of intestinal worms. Nautical To wrap yarn or twine spirally around (rope). v.   intr. To move in a manner suggestive of a worm. To make one's way by artful or devious means: He can't worm out of this situation. [Middle English, from Old English wurm, variant of wyrm; see wer-2 in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

WORM   abbr.   Computer Science write once, read many

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
worm 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

worm
noun
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; "worms take advantage of automatic file sending and receiving features found on many computers"
4.	screw thread on a gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or rack
verb
1.	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" [syn: writhe]

American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms - Cite This Source - Share This

worm

In addition to the idioms beginning with worm, also see can of worms; early bird catches the worm.

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

worm       (wûrm)  Pronunciation Key  Any of various invertebrate animals having a soft, long body that is round or flattened and usually lacks limbs. The term worm is used variously to refer to the segmented worms (or annelids, such as the earthworm), roundworms (or nematodes), flatworms (or platyhelminths), and various other groups. A destructive computer program that copies itself over and over until it fills all of the storage space on a computer's hard drive or on a network. Our Living Language  : Earthworms are one of many types of worms, including those of the flat and round species. Over a century ago, Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms and wrote The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms with Observations on Their Habits, an entire book that described his research on earthworm behavior and intelligence and further explained how important earthworms are to agriculture. "Long before [the plow] existed," he wrote, "the land was, in fact, regularly plowed and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world." Darwin was referring to the way that earthworms naturally mix and till soil, while both improving its structure and increasing its nutrients. As they tunnel in the soil, earthworms open channels that allow in air and water, improving drainage and easing the way for plants to send down roots; they also carry nutrients from deep soils to the surface. Earthworms eat plant material in the soil, decaying leaves, and leaf litter, and their own waste provides nourishment for plants and other organisms. Slime, a secretion of earthworms, contains nitrogen, an important plant nutrient. It is estimated that each year earthworms in one acre of land move 18 or more tons of soil.

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

worm (wûrm)
n.

1. Any of various invertebrates, as those of the phyla Annelida, Nematoda, Nemertea, or Platyhelminthes, having a long, flexible, rounded or flattened body, often without obvious appendages.
2. Any of various crawling insect larvae, such as a grub or a caterpillar, having a soft, elongated body.
3. Any of various unrelated animals, such as the shipworm or the slowworm, resembling a worm in habit or appearance.
4. worms Infestation of the intestines or other parts of the body with worms or wormlike parasites; helminthiasis.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: ¹worm
Pronunciation: 'w&rm
Function: noun
1 : any of various relatively small elongated usually naked and soft-bodiedparasitic animals (as of the phylum Platyhelminthes)
2 : HELMINTHIASIS —usually used in pluralworms> —worm·like /-"lIk/ adjective

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: ²worm
Function: transitive verb
: to treat (an animal) with a drug to destroy or expel parasitic worms

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

WORM
Write-Once Read-Many

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

worm networking, security
(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.
[The Jargon File]
(1996-09-17)

Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

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 crackers 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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

worm

Screw\ (skr[udd]), n. [OE. scrue, OF. escroue, escroe, female screw, F. ['e]crou, L. scrobis a ditch, trench, in LL., the hole made by swine in rooting; cf. D. schroef a screw, G. schraube, Icel. skr[=u]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["o]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["o]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["o]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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Worm

Slow"worm`\, n. [AS. sl[=a]wyrm; the first part is probably akin to sle['a]n to strike, the reptile being supposed to be very poisonous. See Slay, v. t., and Worm.] (Zo["o]l.) A lecertilian reptile; the blindworm.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Worm

Ver"meil\, n. [F., vermilion, fr. LL. vermiculus, fr. L. vermiculus a little worm, the coccus Indicus, from vermis a worm. See Worm, and cf. Vermicule.]

1. Vermilion; also, the color of vermilion, a bright, beautiful red. [Poetic & R.]

In her cheeks the vermeil red did show Like roses in a bed of lilies shed. --Spenser.

2. Silver gilt or gilt bronze.

3. A liquid composition applied to a gilded surface to give luster to the gold. --Knight.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

American Heritage Abbreviations Dictionary 3rd Edition - Cite This Source - Share This

WORM write once, read many [times]

Acronym Finder - Cite This Source - Share This

WORM

WORM: in Acronym Finder

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

worm

worm: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary