Also 7 wormeling, wormlin. [f. WORM sb. + -LING. Cf. ON. yrmlingr.] A small worm; chiefly fig., a poor despicable creature.

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1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. II. Imposture, 498. O dusty wormling! dar’st thou strive and stand With Heav’ns high Monarch?

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1612.  Shelton, Quix., III. iv. (1620), 149. God … doth not abandon the little flies of the aire, nor the wormelings of the earth, nor the spawnlings of the water.

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1621.  Brathwait, Nat. Embassie (1877), 14. Thou wormlin, how dar’st thou reuile his name?

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1628.  Sir W. Mure, Doomesday, 185. Vile wormeling, Thou whose tender pride The weakest sunshine scarce couldst byde.

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1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., etc. II. 129. The good and great, That lent a portion of their wealthy power, And sav’d a wormling from destruction’s fate.

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1858.  E. Caswall, Masque of Mary, etc., 179. The uncreated Word, who flesh became For us poor wormlings creeping on the ground.

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1891.  C. Dawson, Avonmore, IV. 85. But if [there is] a God, what of the wormling man, Who madly dares impeach His awful will?

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