Forms: 3 wirme, 6–7 worme, 7 woorme, 7– worm. [f. the sb. Cf. Du., G. wurmen (in various senses).
In Gen. & Ex., 3342 ‘Quo so nome up forbone mor it [the manna] wirmede, bredde, and rotede ðor’ read ‘wirmes bredde’ (cf. Petrus Comestor scatebat vermibus).]
I. 1. intr. To hunt for or catch worms.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, li. 153. When he [the boar] feedeth on fearne or rootes, then is it called rowting or fearning, or (as some call it) worming: bycause when he doth but a little turne vp the grounde with his nose, he seeketh for wormes. Ibid., liii. 154. In soft places where he wormeth.
1611. Cotgr., Vermiller, to worme, to root for wormes.
1614. Markham, Cheap & Good Husb., VI. i. 115. It is good to keepe Chickens one fortnight in the house, and after to suffer them to goe abroad with the Henne to worme.
1880. F. Buckland, Nat. Hist. Brit. Fishes, 11. Men, women, and children are employed in ‘worming.’
1899. R. Haggard, in Longm. Mag., April, 520. The old thrush goes on worming without even taking the trouble to look up.
2. trans. To cause to be eaten by worms; to devour, as a burrowing worm does. Chiefly pass., to be eaten by worms. Also fig.
1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., I. i. A 3. The body, as the Duke spake very wisely, is gone to be wormd.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 4. 530. The people called him [Herod] a god, but the wormes soone confuted their ridiculous deity, That … when the Angell had worm’d that Idoll, he might say, Behold your king.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 816. Ev’ry plague that can infest Society, and that saps and worms the base Of th’ edifice that policy has rais’d.
1811. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxvii. 235. The Manse had fallen into a sore state of decay—the doors were wormed on the hinges.
1864. T. S. Williams & Simmonds, Engl. Commerc. Corresp., 285. Buffalo hides except rubbed, holed, or wormed, cannot be laid down at all near your limit.
1895. Bookseller’s Catal. Some few margins are wormed, but this can be repaired at a trifling cost.
1909. Trans. Highland & Agric. Soc. Scot., Ser. V. XII. 235. It might have been suspected that part of the thinness [of the oats] at one end of the plots was due to worming.
b. To eat (one’s way) through. (Cf. 9 c.)
1858. Masson, Milton, I. 481. There were men who had wormed their way through libraries, and might be classified according to the colours left in them by the food they had devoured.
II. 3. To extract the ‘worm’ or lytta from the tongue of (a dog). (Supposed to be a safeguard against madness: see WORM sb. 13.)
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 360. It shall be good when spanell whelpes are one moneth olde … to worme them vnder the toung.
1599. Broughton’s Lett., i. 6. A dog not wormed while he is yong, will in time proue mad.
1632. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, I. vii. Int.… Hee Will screw you out a Secret from a Statist —. Com. So easie, as some Cobler wormes a Dog.
1641. Peacham, Worth of Penny, 21. For a peny you may have your dog worm’d, and so be kept from running mad.
1743. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 3 Oct. Patapan is in my lap; I had him wormed lately, which he took heinously.
1815. Scott, Guy M., vii. The men … assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies.
1855. Browning, Protus, 50. He wrote the little tract ‘On worming dogs.’
b. transf. and fig. (as a remedy for madness, a ribald tongue, or greediness).
1564–78. Bullein, Dial. agst. Pest. (1888), 62. You learned your Retorike in the vniuersitie of Bridewell; you were neuer well wormed when you were young.
1589. Nashe, Countercuffe, Wks. (Grosart), I. 77. The blood and the humors that were taken from him, by launcing and worming him at London vpon the common Stage.
1615. Day, Festivals, xii. 335. Abishai desiring leave … to go and worme that unhappy Tongue of his [Shimei’s].
1619. R. Harris, Drunkard’s Cup, 9. He bans, and cannot be quiet till his tongue be wormed.
1621. Fletcher, Pilgrim, IV. i. Is she grown mad now? Is her blood set so high? I’le have her madded, I’le have her worm’d.
1623. Massinger, Dk. Millaine, III. ii. G 3. When I had worm’d his tongue, and trussed his hanches.
1676. Shadwell, Virtuoso, I. 12. He is such a froward testy old fellow, he should be Wormed like a mad Dog.
a. 1679. J. Ward, Diary (1839), 137. A certaine woman that eat much before her husband, and hee complained of her to her mother, shee told him itt was her fault, for she had not wormd her.
† c. To worm a person in the nose: to extract information from him by adroit questioning. Obs.
Cf. F. tirer à quelqu’un les vers du nez.
1613. Treas. Aunc. & Mod. Times, IX. xxii. 953/2. I haue so cunningly wormed my husband in the nose; that he hath discouered vnto me, more Mony then hee acquainted you withall.
4. To rid (plants, esp. tobacco) of ‘worms’ or grubs.
1634. Capt. Smith, Virginia, V. 172. Wormes in the earth also there are but too many, so that to keepe them from destroying their Corne and Tobacco, they are forced to worme them euery morning,… else all would be destroyed.
1641. [cf. WORMING vbl. sb. 2].
1649. W. Bullock, Virginia, 11. The poore Servant goes daily through the rowes of Tobacco stooping to worme it.
1779. J. Carver, Treat. Culture Tobacco, iv. 23. This is termed ‘worming the tobacco.’
1864. R. L. De Coin, Hist. of Cult. Cotton & Tobacco, 274. The plants ought to be wormed—which means searched and cleared of worms—at least once a week.
absol. 1886. C. G. W. Lock, Tobacco, 69. The usual practice is to worm and sucker while the dew is on in the morning.
III. † 5. To pry into the secrets of (a person); to play the spy upon. Obs.
1607. Beaum. & Fl., Woman-Hater, III. iii. O he is a very subtile and a dangerous knave, but if he deal a Gods name, we shall worm him. Ibid. (a. 1616), Wit without Money, IV. iv. I’le teach you to worm me, good Lady sister, and peep into my privacies to suspect me.
1648. Hunting of Fox, 41. You have … a Lay-presbytery to worme your Purposes and Consciences.
1807. J. Barlow, Columb., IV. 211. Spies with eye askance, Pretended heretics who worm the soul.
6. To worm (a person) out of: to deprive or dispossess of (property, etc.) by underhand dealing. ? Obs.
1617. W. Fennor, Compters Commw., 10. It was onely a tricke to worme mee out of my money.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. IV., xi. Richard (whom late wee left dethron’d) is not Worne from the Storye, though worm’d out of King.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Worm’d out of, Rookt, Cheated, Trickt.
1718. trans. Tournefort’s Voy. Levant, I. 58. This gave us a suspicion … that they jointly contriv’d to worm us out of this Mony.
1838. Lytton, Alice, III. viii. We cannot wrestle against the world, but we may shake hands with it, and worm the miser out of its treasures.
7. To worm out: to thrust out, get rid of, expel, by subtle and persistent pressure or undermining.
1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, II. ii. I haue tied vp the louing worme my daughter, and will see whether fansie can worme fansie out of her head.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 30. 67. It is a riddle to me, how this story of Oracles hath not worm’d out of the World that doubtful conceit of Spirits and Witches.
a. 1662. Heylin, Laud, I. (1671), 46. He did not only stock his Colledge with such a generation of Non-conformists as could not be wormed out in many years after his decease; but [etc.].
1665. Surv. Aff. Netherl., 127. The industrious Portugeze, whom they have wormed almost out of all their discoveries in Asia and Africa.
1683. in J. Wickham, Legg Eng. Ch. Life (1914), 115. A Temper, which must Inevitably … Worme out once againe the Common Prayer.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Worm, to work one out of a Place, &c.
1724. R. Fiddes, Pract. Disc., II. 271. He who has the handsomest address … in worming others out of business, and winding himself in.
1748. E. Erskine, Serm. (1755), 332. The Venom of the Old Serpent has diffused itself through all the Powers and Faculties of the Soul and Body; and it is worming out your Life.
1760. Ann. Reg., Chron., 114/1. Such a body of troops as … in time might be able to worm out the English from the trade of Bengal.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Worm, to worm out,… also to undermine, or supplant.
1811. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Bachelor’s Complaint. Innumerable are the ways which they take to insult and worm you out of their husband’s confidence.
8. To worm out: to extract (information, a secret, etc.) by insidious questioning. Similarly const. out of or from (a person).
1715. Addison, Drummer, II. i. I fancy … thou could’st worm it [a secret] out of her.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Worm, to worm out, to obtain the knowledge of a secret by craft.
1800. Mar. Edgeworth, Pop. T., The Will, iv. I do not want to worm your secret from you.
1807. Crabbe, Birth of Flattery, 56. I … Who’ve loosed a guinea from a miser’s chest, And worm’d his secret from a traitor’s breast.
1840. Thackeray, Catherine, xi. Old Wood knew all her history…. He had wormed it out of her, day by day.
1844. A. Smith, Mr. Ledbury, xx. (1886), 60. He was able … to worm out a description of the locality.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, X. xx. By little and little our Juvenile Talleyrand … wormed out from Dick this grievance.
1863. Cowden Clarke, Shaks. Char., iii. 68. He counsels his mother not to let the king worm from her his secret.
1865. Baring-Gould, Werewolves, v. 62. The judge ordered one of his peasants to visit the man, and to worm the truth out of him.
1900. ‘Anthony Hope,’ Quisanté, i. 14. She could not get much out of him, but she found herself trying to worm out all she could.
b. To extract (money, etc.) out of (a person) by pleading.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, xiii. They make the labourer fancy that he is not to depend upon God and his own right hand, but on what his wife can worm out of the good nature of the rich.
9. intr. To move or progress sinuously like a worm; also transf. of things. Usually with adv., as about, along, up, down, or prep., as in, into (a confined space). Also, to move windingly through; to twine or twist about (something).
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Tri., I. xxii. Thousand flaming serpents hissing flew … And woorming all about his soule they clung.
1802. G. Colman, Br. Grins, Elder Bro. (1819), 118. He [a drunk man] work’d, with sinuosities, along, Like Monsieur Corkscrew worming thro’ a Cork.
1826. J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xx. I little like that smoke which you may see worming up along the rock above the canoe.
1839. Bailey, Festus, The Centre. Through seas and buried mountains … have we wormed Down to the ever burning forge of fire.
1884. C. E. S. Wood, Century Mag., XXVIII. 139/2. They [Indians] wormed through the grass to within forty or fifty feet of the rifle-pits.
1885. Cyclist, 19 Aug., 1101/1. The procession … moved off in a straggling manner…. Once in order, however, the riding was excellent, and a very presentable line wormed through the Newport Road.
1896. Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, xvi. The caves and their passages worm about inside the koppie.
b. refl. in same sense.
1865. Gosse, Land & Sea, 255. So, kneeling,… or fairly stretched at full-length supine…, we worm ourselves into the holes and crannies.
1889. D. C. Murray, Dangerous Catspaw, 200. Gale wormed himself into the little passage.
1927. Agatha Christie, Big Four, viii. 107. I crawled cautiously out of the bushes, and inch by inch … I wormed myself down the steep path.
c. With advb. acc., as to worm one’s way. Also of figurative progress (cf. next).
1822. Good, Stud. Med. (1829), I. 399. Fistulous ulcers … have sometimes … wormed a sinuous path, and opened into the vagina.
1845. Lingard, Hist. Anglo-Saxon Ch., I. ii. 95. Through such intrigues it occasionally happened that men, in no wise qualified for the episcopal office, wormed their way to the episcopal bench.
1851. Sir F. B. Head, Stokers & Pokers, iii. 39. A number of newspaper-vendors … are worming their way through the crowd.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc. lxii. (1878), 348. That snake in the grass who wormed his way into my house.
1883. F. M. Crawford, Dr. Claudius, vii. 117. The screw … rushed round, worming its angry way through the long quiet waves.
10. fig. To make one’s way insidiously like a worm into (a person’s confidence, secret affairs, etc.); to burrow in so as to hurt or destroy. Also, to wriggle out of (a difficulty).
1627. P. Fletcher, Locusts, IV. xxi. To comply With that weake sexe, and by fine forgerie To worme in womens hearts, chiefly the rich and high.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Church-Rents, ii. But when debates and fretting jealousies Did worm and work within you more and more, Your colour faded.
1639. Saltmarshe, Policy, 231. Vse subtle and crafty men, they will search, and skrew, and worme into busines of difficulty.
1833. Ritchie, Wand. Loire, 138. I worm into their secrets like a being of supernatural power.
1868. Cornh. Mag., July, 68. We cannot pause to tell how imposters … wormed into his confidence.
1881. Tennyson, Cup, I. i. 54. And once there I warrant I worm thro’ all their windings.
1893. in J. H. Barrows, World’s Parlt. Relig., I. 618. These facts … are exceedingly embarrassing for the adherents of the evolutionary theory; but they worm out of the difficulty in a manner that provokes … a smile.
b. refl. To insinuate oneself into (a person’s favor or confidence, a desirable position, etc.).
1711. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 1 Aug. I was endeavouring to settle some points of the greatest consequence, and had wormed myself pretty well into him, when his Under Secretary came in … and interrupted all my scheme.
1712. Perquisite Monger, 10. One Zaraida … so worm’d herself into the Confidence of her Mistress, as to be in the highest Esteem with her.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, III. iii. ¶ 4. If you have management enough to worm yourself into his confidence.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, vi. Worm yourself into her secrets; I know you can.
1853. Reade, Chr. Johnstone, iii. Flucker,… with admirable smoothness and cunning, wormed himself into cabin-boy on board the yacht.
1871. Dixon, Tower, III. v. 45. He was to worm himself into the family councils.
1911. J. H. Rose, W. Pitt & Gt. War, xx. 432. This was before Wedderburn had wormed himself into favour with Lord North.
11. trans. with predicate-extension: To move (an object) off, down, through, etc., by a gradual tortuous propulsion or dragging.
a. 1861. T. Winthrop, Life in Open Air (1863), 117. Aided by the urgent stream, we carefully and delicately … wormed our boat off the rock.
1873. J. T. Moggridge, Harv. Ants, I. 33. We measured a tunnel [formed by ants] by worming a straw down it.
1888. Stevenson, Black Arrow, 251. Dick had gradually wormed his right arm clear of its bonds.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 11 Dec., 2/1. To repel all attempts on the part of the enemy to worm his patrols through our advanced troops.
IV. 12. [See WORM sb. 16 d, e.] To make a screw-thread on. † To worm in, to screw in; to insert and secure by screwing.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. IV. Handie-Crafts, 523. He hatcheth files, and winding vices wormeth.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xi. ¶ 18. It hath four Iron Hooks…, whose Shanks are Wormed in.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Ecol., x. (1876), 130. A smith may be engaged generally in forging or worming screws.
1884. M. Mackenzie, Dis. Throat & Nose, II. 271. Its outer surface is smooth for four inches from the distal end; but for the rest of its length it is wormed.
13. Naut. To wind spun-yarn or small rope spirally round (a rope or cable) so as to fill up the grooves between the strands and render the surface smooth for parcelling and serving.
1644. [implied in WORMING vbl. sb. 6].
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Worm a Cable, or Hawser,… to succour or strengthen it, by winding a small Rope all along between the Strands.
1730. Capt. W. Wriglesworth, MS. Log-bk. of the ‘Lyell,’ 22 Sept. Got our Main Stay down, Wormed the lower end of it.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), Emmieller un êtai, to worm a stay.
1799. Hull Advertiser, 13 April, 2/2. 60 fathom of cable, part of which is wormed.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 28. It should be tarred and wormed with stout spunyarn.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., x. 360. Three men can worm, parcel, and serve 2 fathoms of 12-inch in an hour.
14. To remove the charge or wad from (a gun) by means of a worm (see WORM sb. 16 b). Also absol.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., s.v., To worm a Gun, to take out the charge of a fire-arm by means of a worm.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man., 209. No. 4. Worms, spunges, rams home, runs out, and trains.
1873. Routledge’s Young Gentlm. Mag., Jan., 79/1. The guns were ‘wormed,’ ‘sponged,’ loaded, and run out.
