■ noun
1》 an earth~ or other creeping or burrowing invertebrate animal having a long, slender soft body and no limbs. [Annelida, Nematoda (round~s), Platyhelminthes (flat~s), and other phyla.]
↘( ~s ) intestinal or other internal parasites.
↘used in names of long, slender insect larvae and other creatures, e.g. army ~ , slow-~ .
↘a maggot regarded as eating dead bodies buried in the ground.
2》 informal a weak or despicable person.
3》 the threaded cylinder in a ~ gear.
4》 the coiled pipe of a still in which the vapour is cooled and condensed.
5》 Computing a self-replicating program able to propagate itself across a network, typically having a detrimental effect.
■ verb
1》 move by crawling or wriggling.
2》 ( ~ one's way into ) insinuate one's way into.
3》 ( ~ something out of ) obtain information from by cunning persistence.
4》 treat (an animal) with a preparation designed to expel parasitic ~s.
5》 Nautical, archaic make (a rope) smooth by winding thread between the strands.
Derivatives
~-like adjective
Origin
OE wyrm (n.), of Gmc origin.