subs. (old).—A miser [cf. MUCK = money]. Also an upstart.
1663. SIR R. HOWARD, The Committee, ii. C. Bl. Come, pr’ythee let’s go; these MUCKWORMS will have Earth enough to stop their Mouths with one Day.
1670. EACHARD, The Ground and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion, in ARBER’S English Garner, vii. p. 298. It is a great hazard if he be not counted a caterpillar! a MUCKWORM! a very earthly minded man!
1695. CONGREVE, Love for Love, ii. 1. ’Oons, whose son are you? how were you engendered, MUCKWORM?
1748. J. THOMSON, Castle of Indolence, i. 50. Here you a MUCKWORM of the town might see.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1795. R. CUMBERLAND, The Jew, i. Here comes one that supersedes all other visitors—old Sheva, the rich Jew, the merest MUCK-WORM in the city of London.
1811. GROSE and CLARKE, Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1859. G. W. MATSELL, Vocabulum; or, The Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
1895. H. B. MARRIOTT-WATSON, The King’s Treasure, in The New Review, July, p. 7. ‘You MUCK-WORM, you —— I’ll slit your gizzard, you ——.’
