muckworm

noun

Etymology

From muck + worm.

  1. inherited from *wr̥mis
  2. inherited from *wurmiz
  3. inherited from wyrm — “worm, snake
  4. inherited from worm
  5. compounded as muckworm — “muck + worm

Definitions

  1. A larva living in mud or manure.

  2. Someone who gathers wealth through overwork of employees and sordid means

    Someone who gathers wealth through overwork of employees and sordid means; a miser.

    • Here you a muckworm of the town might see, / At his dull desk, amid his legers stall'd, / Eat up with carking care and penurie; / Most like to carcase parch'd on gallows-tree.
    • We have painted one Money-Lender — not the mere sordid muckworm of a century ago, but the man-eater of the present day.
    • Perhaps it is far too expensive for a notorious muckworm like you! I, however, am more generous.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for muckworm. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA