[f. the vb.] a. A squirming or writhing movement; a wriggle. b. Naut. A twist in a rope.
1839. Havana (N.Y.) Republican, 21 Aug. (Thornton). [The whale gave] a squirm, and roll’d over and over.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 648. Squirm, a wriggling motion like that of an eel. Also, a twist in a rope.
1883. Baring-Gould, John Herring, II. xxiii. 39. The squirms and languishings of the red-eyelashed heiress … were grotesque.
