(a) A dragon or dragonlike creature; (b) a serpent, snake; also fig.; also, a sacred serpent serving as an object of cult worship, a temple snake [1st quot.]; one of the serpents of Greek or Roman mythology; (c) the serpent in the Garden of Eden; (d) a figural or sculptural representation of a serpent; also, a serpent costume or prop; (e) as a name for Satan; also, as a name for a demon [1st quot.].

(a) As a generalizing term for any creature that slithers, creeps, or crawls, including reptiles, frogs and toads, scorpions, snails, insects, rodents, etc.; coll. & pl. such creatures regarded as repulsive, noxious, or venomous; vermin, pests; also used of larger animals scavenged for food in famine times or of animals, usu. exotic, regarded as dangerous; slo ~, q.v.; (b) as a generic term for any vile creature that torments souls in hell; wormes of helle, helle-wormes; (c) a pictorial representation of a fierce or dangerous animal; (d) ~ kinne [OE wyrm-cynn], the race of creeping things; also, any member of such race [quot. a1150, 2nd].

(a) A common earthworm, an angleworm; also, some similar wormlike creature, a grub, leech, an insect larva, etc.; also fig.; such a creature used as fish bait or food for birds; also, a worm used as an ingredient in a medicinal recipe; ~ foul, a bird that eats worms; ~ mele [OE wyrm-melu], dried and powdered earthworms; cod ~, q.v.; dore ~, the larva of a buzzing insect as a bee, hornet, etc.; erthe ~; sai ~, silke ~ [OE seoluc-wyrm], the larva of the moth Bombix mori or another silk-producing moth, a silkworm [see also silk(e n. 3.(b)]; (b) specif. a gnawing worm, caterpillar, larva, or adult insect destructive of plant matter, cloth, foodstuffs, etc.; a weevil, mealworm, cabbage worm, or the like; also fig.; ~ eten [cp. OE wyrm-æte], ~ freten, worm-eaten; also, as noun: peas that are worm-eaten [quot. a1475]; ~ of boughes, ?a locust; ~ of clothes, the larva of a clothes moth; ~ of a tre, tre ~, a worm or larva that feeds on wood; col ~, a cabbage worm or similar larva; wort ~ [see also wort n. 2.(c)]; turnen to wormes, to become wormy; (c) a worm breeding in and devouring a corpse, the worm of the grave, ?a maggot; also fig.; wormes mete (fode, ifere, etc.), the human body regarded as the eventual food of such creatures; a human being regarded as mortal; (d) chiefly med. & veter. an organism that causes bodily discomfort or disease, a parasite living on or in the body of a person or an animal, as a mite, louse, flea, an intestinal parasite, a tapeworm, pinworm, etc.; a wormlike organism that breeds in or feeds on diseased flesh; pathol. the illness caused by the presence of intestinal worms;—freq. pl.; also, a disease of horses characterized by swollen lymphatics, small tumors, and sores, farcy; fis ~, flith ~, q.v.; gorge ~, a noxious worm that gets into a hawk’s crop; honde ~ [see hond(e n. 8.(i)]; ring ~, q.v.; (e) anat. a small tendon resembling a worm found under the tongue of a dog and regarded as a potential cause of rabies unless excised.

Fig. (a) A worm as the type of that which is worthless, contemptible, vile, etc.; also, as an epithet for a person: miserable wretch; (b) a worm as the type of that which stings or gnaws at the heart; the ~ of conscience, the pang of conscience, remorse; (c) a worm as the type of that which insinuates itself into the heart and incites it to sin or vice, dread, etc.

In name of plants: ~ sed, any of several plants used in medicinal preparations to expel intestinal worms, including wormseed or hog’s fennel (Peucedanum officinale, P. palustre, and/or Erysimum cheiranthoides) and santonica, the unexpanded flower buds of the Levant wormseed (Artemesia cina).

In proverbs, prov. expressions, and conventional comparisons.

(a) In surnames; (b) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 2.281].