Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Vermin"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Vermin \Ver"min\, n. sing. & pl.; used chiefly as plural. [OE.
vermine, F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a
worm, L. verminosus full of worms. See {Vermicular}, {Worm}.]
1. An animal, in general. [Obs.]

Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the
earth, and vermin, and worms, and fowls. --Acts x.
12. (Geneva
Bible).

This crocodile is a mischievous fourfooted beast, a
dangerous vermin, used to both elements. --Holland.

2. A noxious or mischievous animal; especially, noxious
little animals or insects, collectively, as squirrels,
rats, mice, flies, lice, bugs, etc. ``Cruel hounds or some
foul vermin.'' --Chaucer.

Great injuries these vermin, mice and rats, do in
the field. --Mortimer.

They disdain such vermin when the mighty boar of the
forest . . . is before them. --Burke.

3. Hence, in contempt, noxious human beings.

You are my prisoners, base vermin. --Hudibras.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

vermin
n 1: an irritating or obnoxious person [syn: {varmint}]
2: any of various small animals or insects that are pests; e.g.
cockroaches or rats


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