When debates and fretting jealousy Did worm and work
within you more and more, Your color faded. --Herbert.
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.
Specifically: (Zo["o]l.)
(a) Any helminth; an entozo["o]n.
(b) Any annelid.
(c) An insect larva.
(d) pl. 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; as:
(a) 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.
(c) (Anat.) A certain muscular band in the tongue of some
animals, as the dog; the lytta. See {Lytta}.
(d) The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound
to economize space. See Illust. of {Still}.
(e) (Mach.) 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}. (Zo["o]l.) 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.
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.
Note: The screw, as a mechanical power, is a modification of
the inclined plane, and may be regarded as a
right-angled triangle wrapped round a cylinder, the
hypotenuse of the marking the spiral thread of the
screw, its base equaling the circumference of the
cylinder, and its height the pitch of the thread.
2. Specifically, a kind of nail with a spiral thread and a
head with a nick to receive the end of the screw-driver.
Screws are much used to hold together pieces of wood or to
fasten something; -- called also {wood screws}, and {screw
nails}. See also {Screw bolt}, below.
3. Anything shaped or acting like a screw; esp., a form of
wheel for propelling steam vessels. It is placed at the
stern, and furnished with blades having helicoidal
surfaces to act against the water in the manner of a
screw. See {Screw propeller}, below.
4. A steam vesel propelled by a screw instead of wheels; a
screw steamer; a propeller.
5. An extortioner; a sharp bargainer; a skinflint; a niggard.
--Thackeray.
6. An instructor who examines with great or unnecessary
severity; also, a searching or strict examination of a
student by an instructor. [Cant, American Colleges]
7. A small packet of tobacco. [Slang] --Mayhew.
8. An unsound or worn-out horse, useful as a hack, and
commonly of good appearance. --Ld. Lytton.
9. (Math.) A straight line in space with which a definite
linear magnitude termed the pitch is associated (cf. 5th
{Pitch}, 10
(b) ). It is used to express the displacement of a rigid
body, which may always be made to consist of a
rotation about an axis combined with a translation
parallel to that axis.
10. (Zo["o]l.) An amphipod crustacean; as, the skeleton screw
({Caprella}). See {Sand screw}, under {Sand}.
{Archimedes screw}, {Compound screw}, {Foot screw}, etc. See
under {Archimedes}, {Compound}, {Foot}, etc.
{A screw loose}, something out of order, so that work is not
done smoothly; as, there is a screw loose somewhere. --H.
Martineau.
{Endless, or perpetual, {screw}, a screw used to give motion
to a toothed wheel by the action of its threads between
the teeth of the wheel; -- called also a {worm}.
{Micrometer screw}, a screw with fine threads, used for the
measurement of very small spaces.
{Right and left screw}, a screw having threads upon the
opposite ends which wind in opposite directions.
{Screw alley}. See {Shaft alley}, under {Shaft}.
{Screw bean}. (Bot.)
(a) The curious spirally coiled pod of a leguminous tree
({Prosopis pubescens}) growing from Texas to
California. It is used for fodder, and ground into
meal by the Indians.
(b) The tree itself. Its heavy hard wood is used for
fuel, for fencing, and for railroad ties.
{Screw bolt}, a bolt having a screw thread on its shank, in
distinction from a {key bolt}. See 1st {Bolt}, 3.
{Screw box}, a device, resembling a die, for cutting the
thread on a wooden screw.
{Screw dock}. See under {Dock}.
{Screw engine}, a marine engine for driving a screw
propeller.
{Screw gear}. See {Spiral gear}, under {Spiral}.
{Screw jack}. Same as {Jackscrew}.
{Screw key}, a wrench for turning a screw or nut; a spanner
wrench.
{Screw machine}.
(a) One of a series of machines employed in the
manufacture of wood screws.
(b) A machine tool resembling a lathe, having a number of
cutting tools that can be caused to act on the work
successively, for making screws and other turned
pieces from metal rods.
{Screw pine} (Bot.), any plant of the endogenous genus
{Pandanus}, of which there are about fifty species,
natives of tropical lands from Africa to Polynesia; --
named from the spiral arrangement of the pineapple-like
leaves.
{Screw plate}, a device for cutting threads on small screws,
consisting of a thin steel plate having a series of
perforations with internal screws forming dies.
{Screw press}, a press in which pressure is exerted by means
of a screw.
{Screw propeller}, a screw or spiral bladed wheel, used in
the propulsion of steam vessels; also, a steam vessel
propelled by a screw.
{Screw shell} (Zo["o]l.), a long, slender, spiral gastropod
shell, especially of the genus Turritella and allied
genera. See {Turritella}.
{Screw steamer}, a steamship propelled by a screw.
{Screw thread}, the spiral rib which forms a screw.
{Screw stone} (Paleon.), the fossil stem of an encrinite.
{Screw tree} (Bot.), any plant of the genus {Helicteres},
consisting of about thirty species of tropical shrubs,
with simple leaves and spirally twisted, five-celled
capsules; -- also called {twisted-horn}, and {twisty}.
{Screw valve}, a stop valve which is opened or closed by a
screw.
{Screw worm} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of an American fly
({Compsomyia macellaria}), allied to the blowflies, which
sometimes deposits its eggs in the nostrils, or about
wounds, in man and other animals, with fatal results.
{Screw wrench}.
(a) A wrench for turning a screw.
(b) A wrench with an adjustable jaw that is moved by a
screw.
{To put the} {screw, or screws}, {on}, to use pressure upon,
as for the purpose of extortion; to coerce.
{To put under the} {screw or screws}, to subject to pressure;
to force.
{Wood screw}, a metal screw with a sharp thread of coarse
pitch, adapted to holding fast in wood. See Illust. of
{Wood screw}, under {Wood}.