1. lit. A kind of maggot that destroys books by eating its way through the leaves.
1855. Mrs. Gatty, Parables fr. Nat., Ser. XVIII. (1809), 66. The bookworm had just eaten his way through the back of Lord Bacons Advancement of Learning.
1886. Bookseller, 6 Nov., 1180. A living specimen of a bookworm Book-worms are the larvæ of a small beetle (anobium.) I discovered that many of the volumes contained living bookworms.
2. fig. One who seems to find his chief sustenance in reading, one who is always poring over books.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthias Rev., III. ii. Perverted and spoiled by a whoreson book-worm.
a. 1736. Pope, Lett., Wks. 1736, V. 141. I wanted but a black gown and a salary, to be as meer a bookworm as any there.
1865. Merivale, Rom. Emp., VIII. lxvii. 278. No sophist, no schoolman, no mere dreaming bookworm.