Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
worm (noun)1.
a) - earthworm , broadly an annelid worm
b) any of numerous relatively small elongated usually naked and soft-bodied animals (as a grub, pinworm, tapeworm, shipworm, or slowworm)
2.
a) a human being who is an object of contempt, loathing, or pity - wretch
b) something that torments or devours from within
3.
archaic - snake serpent
4.
- helminthiasis usually used in plural
5.
something (as a mechanical device) spiral or vermiculate in form or appearance as
a) the thread of a screw
b) a short revolving screw whose threads gear with the teeth of a worm wheel or a rack
c) - archimedes' screw , also a conveyor working on the principle of such a screw
6.
a usually small self-contained and self-replicating computer program that invades computers on a network and usually performs a destructive action
intransitive verb
transitive verb
to move or proceed sinuously or insidiously
1.
a) to proceed or make (one's way) insidiously or deviously - worm their way into positions of power Bill Franzen
b) to insinuate or introduce (oneself) by devious or subtle means
c) to cause to move or proceed in or as if in the manner of a worm
2.
to wind rope or yarn spirally round and between the strands of (a cable or rope) before serving
3.
to obtain or extract by artful or insidious questioning or by pleading, asking, or persuading - usually used with out of finally wormed the truth out of him
4.
to treat (an animal) with a drug to destroy or expel parasitic - worms
Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
worm (verb)1.
to advance gradually beyond the usual or desirable limits
SYNONYMS:
creep, inch, wormRELATED WORDS:
snake, sneak; entrench ( intrench), impinge, infringe, intrude, invade; overpass, overreach, overrun, overshoot, overstep2.
to introduce in a gradual, secret, or clever way
SYNONYMS:
infiltrate, slip, sneak, wind, work in, worm, wriggleRELATED WORDS:
creep, edge, wiggle; insert, interpolate, interpose, introduce3.
to move slowly with the body close to the ground
SYNONYMS:
belly, creep, grovel, slide, slither, snake, worm, wriggleRELATED WORDS:
crouch, squat; edge, inch, nose; skulk, sneak, steal, tiptoe