Worm

worm n.

[from `tapeworm' in John Brunner's novel "The Shockwave Rider", via XEROX PARC] A program that propagates itself over a network, reproducing itself as it goes. Compare virus. Nowadays the term has negative connotations, as it is assumed that only crackers write worms. Perhaps the best-known example was Robert T. Morris's Great Worm of 1988, a `benign' one that got out of control and hogged hundreds of Suns and VAXen across the U.S. See also cracker, RTM, Trojan horse, ice.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

WORM devices tend to be quite cheap, because no-one wants to pay a lot for a device they can only write to once. This especially applies to CD-ROMs, which are so cheap because the process of burning them is a one-way ride. CD-RWs are more expensive because they carry the capability to be written more times.

worm

To worm out ; to obtain the knowledge of a secret by craft, also to undermine or supplant.

He is gone to the diet of worms ; he is dead and buried, or gone to Rothisbone.

The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Worm (w&ucir;rm), n. [OE. worm, wurm, AS. wyrm; akin to D. worm, OS. & G. wurm, Icel. ormr, Sw. & Dan. orm, Goth. wa�xa3;rms, L. vermis, Gr. a wood worm. Cf. Vermicelli, Vermilion, Vermin.]

1.

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

There came a viper out of the heat, and leapt on his hand. When the men of the country saw the worm hang on his hand, they said, This man must needs be a murderer. Tyndale (Acts xxviii. 3, 4).

'T is slander, Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile. Shak.

When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm, His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks. Longfellow.

2.

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.

Any helminth; an entozoon.

Any annelid.

An insect larva.

Same as Vermes.

3.

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

The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! Shak.

4.

A being debased and despised.

I am a worm, and no man. Ps. xxii. 6.

5.

Anything spiral, vermiculated, or resembling a worm

The thread of a screw.

The threads of screws, when bigger than can be made in screw plates, are called worms. Moxon.

(b)

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

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

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

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.

Worm abscess Med., an abscess produced by the irritation resulting from the lodgment of a worm in some part of the body. -- Worm fence. See under Fence. -- Worm gear. Mach. (a) A worm wheel. (b) Worm gearing. -- Worm gearing, gearing consisting of a worm and worm wheel working together. -- Worm grass. Bot. (a) See Pinkroot, 2 (a). (b) The white stonecrop (Sedum album) reputed to have qualities as a vermifuge. Dr. Prior. -- Worm oil Med., an anthelmintic consisting of oil obtained from the seeds of Chenopodium anthelminticum. -- Worm powder Med., an anthelmintic powder. -- Worm snake. Zool. See Thunder snake (b), under Thunder. -- Worm tea Med., an anthelmintic tea or tisane. -- Worm tincture Med., a tincture prepared from dried earthworms, oil of tartar, spirit of wine, etc. [Obs.] -- Worm wheel, a cogwheel having teeth formed to fit into the spiral spaces of a screw called a worm, so that the wheel may be turned by, or may turn, the worm; -- called also worm gear, and sometimes tangent wheel. See Illust. of Worm gearing, above.

© Webster 1913.

Worm (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wormed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Worming.]

To work slowly, gradually, and secretly.

When debates and fretting jealousy Did worm and work within you more and more, Your color faded. Herbert.

© Webster 1913.

Worm, v. t.

1.

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

They find themselves wormed out of all power. Swift.

They . . . wormed things out of me that I had no desire to tell. Dickens.

2.

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

3.

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.

The men assisted the laird in his sporting parties, wormed his dogs, and cut the ears of his terrier puppies. Sir W. Scott.

4. Naut.

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.

Ropes . . . are generally wormed before they are served. Totten.

To worm one's self into, to enter into gradually by arts and insinuations; as, to worm one's self into favor.

© Webster 1913.