1. (n.) A creeping or a crawling animal of any kind or size, as a serpent, caterpillar, snail, or the like.

2. (n.) Any small creeping animal or reptile, either entirely without feet, or with very short ones, including a great variety of animals; as, an earthworm; the blindworm.

3. (n.) Any helminth; an entozoon.

4. (n.) Any annelid.

5. (n.) An insect larva.

6. (n.) Same as Vermes.

7. (n.) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one's mind with remorse.

8. (n.) A being debased and despised.

9. (n.) Anything spiral, vermiculated, or resembling a worm

10. (n.) The thread of a screw.

11. (n.) A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.

12. (n.) A certain muscular band in the tongue of some animals, as the dog; the lytta. See Lytta.

13. (n.) The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to economize space. See Illust. of Still.

14. (n.) A short revolving screw, the threads of which drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel by gearing into its teeth or cogs. See Illust. of Worm gearing, below.

15. (v. i.) To work slowly, gradually, and secretly.

16. (v. t.) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; -- often followed by out.

17. (v. t.) To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm. See Worm, n. 5 (b).

18. (n.) To cut the worm, or lytta, from under the tongue of, as a dog, for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw. The operation was formerly supposed to guard against canine madness.

19. (n.) To wind rope, yarn, or other material, spirally round, between the strands of, as a cable; to wind with spun yarn, as a small rope.

amble angleworm animal armyworm beast blast blight blighter bollworm bookworm cancer canker claudicate contort corkscrew cotton worm crawl creep crinkle cur dog dogtrot drag drag along drag out dry rot earthworm earworm edge in fireworm fishworm foist fungus go dead slow go on tiptoe go slow grovel gumshoe helminth hobble hound hyena idle inch inch along inchworm infiltrate insect intort jog-trot laze leech limp looper lowlife meander measuring worm mildew mold mongrel mosey moth moth and rust mucker must nematode night crawler nightwalk nightwalker no-good pad pest pig poke poke along polecat prowl pussyfoot reptile rot rust saunter scallop scrabble scramble screw serpent serpentine shuffle along sidle silkworm skunk slink smut snake sneak squiggle squirm stagger along steal steal along stroll swine swirl tapeworm tippytoe tiptoe toddle toddle along totter along traipse turn tussah twine twirl twist twist and turn varmint vermin viper waddle walk webworm whelp whirl whorl wiggle wind wireworm woodworm work in worm along wring writhe