Worm

King James Dictionary

WORM, n. G. This word is probably named form a winding motion, and the root of swarm.

1. In common usage, any small creeping animal, or reptile, either entirely without feet, or with very short ones, including a great variety of animals of different classes and orders, viz. Certain small serpents, as the blind-worm or slow-worm the larvas of insects, viz. Grubs, caterpillars and maggots, as the wood-worm, canker-worm, silk-worm, (the larva of a moth (Phaloena,) which spins the filaments of which silk is made,) the grub that injures corn, grass, &c., the worms that breed in putrid flesh, the bots in the stomach of horses, and many others certain wingless insects, as the glow-worm the intestinal worms, or such as breed in the cavities and organs of living animals, as the tape-worm, the round-worm, the fluke, &c. and numerous animals found in the earth, and in water, particularly in the sea, as the earth-worm or lumbricus, the hair-worm or gordius, the teredo, or worm that bores in to the bottom of ships, &c. Worms, in the plural, in common usage, is used for intestinal worms, or those which breed in the stomach and bowels, particularly the round and thread worms, (lumbrici and ascarides,) which are often found there in great numbers as we say, a child has worms. 2. In zoology, the term Vermes or worms has been applied to different divisions of invertebral animals, by different naturalists. Linnes class of vermes, includes the following orders, viz. Intestina, including the proper intestinal worms the earth-worm, the hair-worm, the teredo, and some other marine worms Mollusca, including the slug, and numerous soft animals inhabiting the water, particularly the sea Testacea, including all the proper shell-fish Zoophyta or compound animals, including corals, polypes, and spunges and Infusoria, or simple microscopic animlacules. His character of the class is, --spiracles obscure, jaws various, organs of sense usually tentacula, no brain, ears nor nostrils, limbs wanting, frequently hermaphrodite. This class includes all the invertebral animals, except the insects and crustacea. The term Vermes has been since greatly limited, particularly by the French naturalists. Lamarch confined it to the intestinal worms, and some others, whose organization is equally imperfect. The character of his class is, suboviparous, body soft, highly reproductive, undergo no metamorphosis no eyes, nor articulated limbs, nor radiated disposition of internal organs. 3. Remorse that which incessantly gnaws the conscience that which torments.

Where their worm dieth not.  Mark 9 .

4. A being debased and despised.

I am a worm, and no man.  Psalms 22 .

5. A spiral instrument or iron screw, used for drawing wads and cartridges from cannon or small arms. 6. Something spiral, vermiculated, or resembling a worm as the threads of a screw. 7. In chemistry and distilleries, a spiral leaden pipe placed in a tub of water, through which the vapor passes in distillation, and in which it is cooled and condensed. It is called also a serpentine. 8. A small worm-like ligament situated beneath a dogs tongue.

WORM, To work slowly, gradually and secretly.

When debates and fretting jealousy did worm and work within you more and more, your color faded.

WORM,

1. To expel or undermine by slow and secret means.

They find themselves wormed out of all power.

2. To cut something, called a worm, from under the tongue of a dog. 3. To draw the wad or cartridge from a gun to clean by the worm. 4. To wind a rope spirally round a cable, between the strands or to wind a smaller rope with spun yarn.

To worm ones self into, to enter gradually by arts and insinuations as to worm ones self into favor.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

WORM . 1 . sâs ,   Isaiah 51:6 (cf. Arab [Note: Arabic.] , sûs , a moth or a worm), the larva of a clothes-moth. See Moth. 2. rimmâh (  Exodus 16:24 ,   Job 25:6 ,   Isaiah 14:11 ). 3. tôlâ ‘, tôlç‘âh ’ or tôla‘ath (  Exodus 16:20 ,   Job 25:6 ,   Isaiah 14:11;   Isaiah 66:24 ,   Jonah 4:7 etc.). Both 2 and 3 are used to describe the same kind of worms (cf.   Exodus 16:20;   Exodus 16:24 ), and most references are to maggots and other insect larvæ which breed on putrid organic matter. These are very common in Palestine, occurring even on neglected sores and, of course, on dead bodies (  Job 19:26;   Job 21:26;   Job 24:20 ). Jonah’s worm ( tôlç‘âh ) was probably some larva which attacks the roots, or perhaps a centipede. The ‘worms’ of   Deuteronomy 28:39 were probably caterpillars. 4 . râqâb (  Hosea 5:12 AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] ). In   Proverbs 12:4 where the same word is also tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘rottenness,’ it is rendered in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] skôlçx , ‘wood-worm,’ which seems appropriate to the context. 5 . zôch ăl ç‘ârets , ‘worms of the earth’ (  Micah 7:17 ), may possibly refer to true earthworms (which are comparatively rare in Palestine), but more probably to serpents. See Serpent ( 10 ). 6 . skôlçx ,   Mark 9:44 etc. The expression ‘ eaten of worms ,’ used (  Acts 12:23 ) in describing the death of Herod Agrippa i., would seem to refer to a death accompanied by violent abdominal pains, such symptoms being commonly ascribed in the Holy Land to-day to abdominal worms ( Lumbricoides ) a belief often revived by the evacuation of such worms near the time of death (cf. p. 600 a ).

E. W. G. Masterman.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) 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.

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

(3): ( n.) A creeping or a crawling animal of any kind or size, as a serpent, caterpillar, snail, or the like.

(4): ( n.) 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.

(5): ( n.) Any helminth; an entozoon.

(6): ( n.) Any annelid.

(7): ( n.) An insect larva.

(8): ( n.) Same as Vermes.

(9): ( n.) An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one's mind with remorse.

(10): ( n.) A being debased and despised.

(11): ( n.) Anything spiral, vermiculated, or resembling a worm

(12): ( n.) The thread of a screw.

(13): ( n.) 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.

(14): ( n.) A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.

(15): ( n.) The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to economize space. See Illust. of Still.

(16): ( n.) 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.

(17): ( v. t.) To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; - often followed by out.

(18): ( n.) A certain muscular band in the tongue of some animals, as the dog; the lytta. See Lytta.

(19): ( v. i.) To work slowly, gradually, and secretly.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Not the earth worm ( Lumbricus Terrestris ).  Isaiah 51:8; "the moth ( 'Ash ) shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm ( Sas ) shall eat them like wool." The Sas is a species of (See Moth . Rimmah synonymous with Toleah ; applied to the worm bred in the manna when kept more than a day ( Exodus 16:26), Tolaim , answering to Rimmah ( Exodus 16:24); so in  Job 25:6; maggots and larvae of insects which feed on putrefying matter ( Job 21:26;  Job 24:20;  Job 7:5;  Job 17:4); maggots were bred in Job's sores produced by elephantiasis. "Herod was eaten of worms" ( Acts 12:23). Josephus tells the same of Herod the Great ( Acts 19:8), and  2 Maccabees 9:9 of Antiochus Epiphanes.

In  Job 19:26; Hebrew "though after my skin (is destroyed) this (body) is destroyed," Job omits "body" because it was so wasted as not to deserve the name. The Tolath was to eat the grapes of apostate Israel ( Deuteronomy 28:39); also Jonah's gourd ( Jonah 4:7). Hell is associated with the "worm that dieth not," an image from maggots preying on putrid carcass ( Isaiah 66:24). (See Hell .)  Mark 9:44;  Mark 9:46;  Mark 9:48, "THEIR worm" is the gnawing self reproach of conscience, ever continuing and unavailing remorse. The Lord Jesus represents here both the worm and those on whom it preys as never dying. Symbolizing at once decay and loathsome humiliation, and this everlasting.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the general name in Scripture for little creeping insects. Several kinds are spoken of:

1. Those that breed in putrefied bodies, רסה ,  Exodus 16:20;  Exodus 16:24;  Job 7:5;  Job 17:14;  Job 21:26;  Job 24:20;  Job 25:6;  Isaiah 14:11; ακωληξ , Sir_7:17; Sir_10:11; 1Ma_2:62; 2Ma_9:9; Jdt_16:17;  Mark 9:44;  Mark 9:46;  Mark 9:48;  Acts 12:23 .

2. That which eats woollen garments, סס ,  Isaiah 51:8; σης ,  Matthew 6:19-20;  Luke 12:33 .

3. That which, perforating the leaves and bark of trees, causes the little excrescences called kermes, whence is made a crimson dye, תולע ,  Deuteronomy 28:39;  Job 25:6;  Psalms 22:6;  Isaiah 14:11;  Isaiah 41:14;  Isaiah 66:24;  Exodus 16:20;  Jonah 4:7 .

4. The worm destructive of the vines, referred to in   Deuteronomy 28:39; which was the pyralis vitanae, or pyralis fasciana, of Forskal, the vine weevil, a small insect extremely hurtful to the vines.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The manna bred worms (tola'im), but on the Sabbath there was not any worm (rimmah) therein ( Exodus 16:20,24 ). Here these words refer to caterpillars or larvae, which feed on corrupting matter.

These two Hebrew words appear to be interchangeable ( Job 25:6;  Isaiah 14:11 ). Tola'im in some places denotes the caterpillar ( Deuteronomy 28:39;  Jonah 4:7 ), and rimmah, the larvae, as bred from putridity ( Job 17:14;  21:26;  24:20 ). In  Micah 7:17 , where it is said, "They shall move out of their holes like worms," perhaps serpents or "creeping things," or as in the Revised Version, "crawling things," are meant.

The word is used figuratively in  Job 25:6;  Psalm 22:6;  Isaiah 41:14;  Mark 9:44,46,48;  Isaiah 66:24 .

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Worm'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/w/worm.html. 1897.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Σκώληξ (Strong'S #4663 — Noun Masculine — skolex — sko'-lakes )

"a worm which preys upon dead bodies," is used metaphorically by the Lord in  Mark 9:48; in some mss. vv. 44,46, cp.  Isaiah 66:24 . The statement signifies the exclusion of the hope of restoration, the punishment being eternal.

2: Σκωληκόβρωτος (Strong'S #4662 — Adjective — skolekobrotos — sko-lay-kob'-ro-tos )

denotes "devored by worms" (skolex, and bibrosko, "to eat"),  Acts 12:23 .

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Worm. The representative in the Authorized Version of several Hebrew words.

Sas , which occurs in  Isaiah 51:18 probably denotes some particular species of moth, whose larva is injurious to wool.

Rimmah ,  Exodus 16:20, points evidently to various kinds of maggots and the larvae of insects which feed on putrefying animal matter, rather than to earthworms.

Toleah is applied in  Deuteronomy 28:39 to some kinds of larvae destructive to the vines.

In  Job 19:26;  Job 21:26;  Job 24:20, there is an allusion to worms (insect larvae) feeding on the dead bodies of the buried. There is the same allusion in  Isaiah 66:24 which words are applied by our Lord,  Mark 9:44;  Mark 9:46;  Mark 9:48, metaphorically to the torments of the guilty in the world of departed spirits.

The valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, where the filth of the city was cast, was alive with worms. The death of Herod Agrippa I, was caused by worms.  Acts 12:23.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

This is sometimes figuratively used. The Lord Jesus calls himself a worm and no man, ( Psalms 22:6) to intimate the unparalleled humility of his person. Hence, Jehovah speaking to Christ,under the character of Jacob, saith, Fear not, thou worm Jacob! ( Isaiah 41:14) Sometimes the word is also used by way of figure, to represent the torments of the damned. "Their worm, (said Jesus,) dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,"  Mark 9:44-48. Some of the old writers have contended, however, that this worm, here spoken of by Christ, is not in figure, but in reality. Of this opinion was Austin.

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Psalm 22:6 (a) This type represents the utter degradation and worthlessness of human beings in GOD's sight. When Jesus took the sinner's place, He called Himself a worm because the one for whom He died was considered by GOD as a worm. (See also  Isaiah 41:14).

 Isaiah 66:24, (b) No doubt this is an emblem of the gnawing pains of conscience which must be endured constantly and forever by those who are lost, and are in the lake of fire. (See also  Mark 9:43)).

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Psalm 22:6 Job 17:14 Isaiah 41:14 Isaiah 66:24 Mark 9:44 9:48Animals

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

WORM. —See Animals in vol. i. p. 67a.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is the rendering, in the A.V., of several Hebrew and one Greek word.

1. Sas ( סָס , from its Leaping; Sept. Σής ; Vulg. Tinea) occurs only in  Isaiah 51:8, "For the Ash ( עָשׁ , 'moth') shall eat them up like a garment, and the sas shall eat them like wool." The word probably denotes some particular species of moth, whose larva is injurious to wool, while perhaps the former name is the more general one for any of the destructive Tineas, or "clothesmoths." (See Moth).

2. Rimmduh ( רַמָּה , of uncertain etymology; Sept. Σκώληξ , Σῆψις , Σαπρία ; Vulg. Vermis, Putredo, Tineas) occurs  Exodus 16:24;  Job 6:5;  Job 17:14;  Job 21:26;  Job 24:20;  Job 25:6;  Isaiah 14:11, and seems to denote worms in putrid substances, or putridity itself. The Hebrew word points evidently to various kinds of maggots, and the larvae of insects which feed on putrefying animal matter, rather than to earth-worms. Job, under his heavy affliction, exclaims, "My flesh is clothed with rinmah" ( Job 7:5; see also 17:14). There is no reason to doubt that the expression is to be understood literally; a person in Job's condition would very probably suffer from Entozoa of some kind. In  Job 21:26;  Job 24:20, there is an allusion to worms (insect larvae) feeding on the dead bodies of the buried (comp.  Sirach 10:11;  Sirach 19:3;  1 Maccabees 2:62).

Our translators, in the well-known passage ( Job 19:26) — "And though after my skin worms destroy this body" have over-interpreted the words of the original, "My skin shall have been consumed," for there is no mention of worms whatever in the original. These passages, and especially the last, have contributed to the popular impression that the human body, when buried in the grave, is consumed by worms. The Oriental method of burial in wrappers, and of depositing the corpse in caves, etc., would no doubt often afford the spectacle of the human body devoured by the larvae of different insects; but the allusions in Scripture to such sights do not apply to burial elsewhere, except where the body is buried in a wooden coffin only, in vaults which have communications with the external air, when swarms of a species of fly, of a cimex aspect, insinuate themselves between the lid and lower part of the coffin, and their larvae batten in the corpse within, while the adult insect sports in the lurid atmosphere of the vault.

3. The distinctive term is Told ( תּוֹלָע ,  Exodus 16:20;  Isaiah 1:18;  Lamentations 4:5), or (fem.) Toledh, or Toldath ( תּוֹלֵלָה , or תּוֹלִעִת ,  Deuteronomy 28:39;  Job 25:6;  Psalms 22:6;  Isaiah 14:11;  Isaiah 41:14;  Isaiah 66:24;  Jonah 4:7; besides the use of the latter in connection with שָׁנַי , together rendered "scarlet" [q.v.]), yet it often stands in parallelism with the preceding term. The manna that the disobedient Israelites kept till the morning of a week-day "bred worms" ( תּוֹלָעַים ), and stank ( Exodus 16:20); while of that kept over the Sabbath and gathered the night before, it is said that "it did not stink, neither was there any worm ( רַמָּה ) therein." The patriarch uses both terms in  Job 25:6, where he compares the estate of man to a Rimmah, and the son of man to a Toleah. Homer also compares a man of inferior consequence to a worm, É Στε Σκώληξ Ἐπὶ Γαίη Κεῖτο Ταθεϊ v Σ (Iliad, 13:654). תולע is applied to that which preys on human flesh ( Job 14:11); on vegetables, as on the gourd of Jonah ( Jonah 4:7), and on vines ( Deuteronomy 28:39). The ancient Hebrews applied such words as indeterminately as the common people now do the words "worm," "fly," etc. Similar indeterminateness attends the Sept. and Vulg. renderings. Aristotle also applies the word Σκώληξ to the larva of any insect — Τίκτει Δὲ Πάντα Σκωληκα , "all insects produce a worm" (Hist. Anim. 5:19). The insect which the manna is said to have "bred, when kept till the morning" ( Exodus 16:20;  Exodus 16:24), whatever it was, must be considered as miraculously produced as a punishment for disobedience, since the substance now understood to be the same keeps good for weeks and months, nor did the specimen laid up in the ark breed worms. (See Manna).

An insect is alluded to as injuring vines and grapes ( Deuteronomy 28:39; תולע , Σκώληξ , Vermis). The Greeks had a distinct name for this insect. and probably as early as the Sept. translation of Exodus was made, Ἴψ and Ιξ (Theophrastus, De Causis, 3:27). It was called by the Latins Involvolus, Convolvulus, and Volvox (Plautus, Cistell: Acts 4. sc. 2; Pliny, Hist. Nat. 17:28). Rosenmuller thinks it was the Scarubaeus Hirtellus, or the Scarabcaus Muticus Hirtus Testaceo-Nigricans of Linnaeus (Syst. Nat. I, 4:1577) Forskal calls it the Pyralis vitanal, or Pyralis fasciana. Various kinds of insects attack the vine, among which one of the most destructive is the Tortrix vitisana, the little caterpillar of which eats off the inner parts of the blossoms, the clusters of which it binds together by spinning a web around them. A species of beetle, Lethrus cephalotes, is injurious to the vines of Hungary; other species of beetles do similar mischief (rynchites, bacchus, eumolpus). Vine-leaves in France are frequently destroyed by the larva of a moth, Tortrix vitana. In Germany another species does great injury to the young branches, preventing their expansion by the webs in which it involves them; and a third species, Totrix-fasciana, makes the grapes themselves its food (Kirby and Spence, Introd. to Entomology [Lond. 1828], 1:205). It may serve as an illustration of the looseness of popular diction. respecting insects to remark that what the farmers call "the fly" in the turnip is in reality a small species of jumping beetle, for which turnip-flea would be a more appropriate name.

The "gourd" of Jonah is said to have been destroyed by "a worm" ( Jonah 4:7; תולעת , Σκώληξ Veranis). The identity of the gourd with the Ricinus Communis has been thought to be well established, (See Gourd), and Rumphius (Herbar. Amboinens. 4:95) testifies to the ravages of a species of black caterpillar upon it. These are produced, he says, in great quantities in the summer-time, during a gentle rain, and eat up the leaves of the Palma Christi, and gnaw its branches to the pith in a single night (Michaelis, Suppl. Ad Lex. Hebraic. page 2187). Allusions to the Worm In Wood occur in the Sept. of  Proverbs 12:4;  Proverbs 25:20 : Ἐν Ξύψῳ Σκώληξ ; Vulg. Vermis Ligno, which words have nothing corresponding to them in the present Hebrew text (see Vulg. of  2 Kings 23:8).

It is possible that the word תולע was also given as a proper name; thus "Tola " occurs among the descendants of Issachar ( Genesis 46:13), and was also the name of a person of the same tribe ( Judges 10:1). Bochart conjectures that the name was given to these children by their parents because the tribe of Issachar was one of the meanest, and they were themselves in needy circumstances, or that these were very sickly children when born. He remarks, however, that the first Tola became a great man, the head of the Tolaites ( Numbers 26:23), who, in the days of David, amounted to 22,600 ( 1 Chronicles 7:2), and that the latter judged Israel twenty years ( Judges 10:1-2).

4. In Mich 7:17 the words "like worms of the earth" represent the Heb.

בַּזחֲלֵי אֵרֶוֹ , lit. "creepers in the dust," "serpents;" Vulg. Reptila Terrae (comp.  Deuteronomy 32:24).

5. The usual Greek word for worm is Σκώληξ . In  1 Maccabees 2:62, "Fear not the words of a sinful man, for his glory shall be dung and worms," instead of Κοπρία , "dung," should be read Σαπρία , "rottenness," as in the Sept. of  Job 7:5;  Job 25:6. So also in  Sirach 19:3, "Moths and worms shall have him that cleaveth to harlots," instead of Σῆτες , moths," read Σήπη , " rottenness."

"Worm" occurs in the New. Test. in a figurative sense only (  Mark 9:44;  Mark 9:46;  Mark 9:48), "Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;" words borrowed from  Isaiah 66:24, Which originally relate to a Temporal state of things, but which had also become, in our Lord's time, the popular representation of future punishment ( Judges 16:17;  Sirach 7:17). (See Tophet). Origen here understands "worm" in a metaphorical sense, as denoting the accusation of conscience; but Austin, Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Theophylact, etc., contend that the word should be understood literally.

The death of Herod Agrippa I was caused by worms ( Σκωληκόβρωτος ,  Acts 12:23); according to Josephus (Ant. 19:8, 2), his death took place five days after his departure from the theatre. It is curious that the Jewish historian makes no mention of worms in the case of Agrippa, though he expressly notes it in that of Herod the Great (Ant. 17:6, 5; War, 1:33, 5). A similar death was that of Antiochus Epiphanes ( 2 Maccabees 9:9; see also Euseusebius, Eccles. Hist. 8:16; Lucian, Pseudomant, 1:904; comp. Wetstein on  Acts 12:23). Whether the worms were the cause or the result of the disease is an immaterial question. The "angel of the Lord struck Herod" with some disease, the issue of which was fatal, and the loathsome spectacle of which could not fail to have had a marked humiliating effect on his proud heart. It has been attempted to explain all these instances as cases of phthiriasis, or the Lousy disease, but the conjecture is inconsistent with the words employed in the several narratives; and since they are instances of persons being devoured by Worms while Alive, contrary to the order of nature, we are compelled to ascribe the phenomenon to divine agency. At all events, the larvae in Herod's case were internal. On the other hand, the cruel Pheretima, the wife of Battus, whose horrible vengeance is detailed by Herodotus (Hist. 4:202-204), is described by him as dying under a disease which, from the terms he uses, must have been peculiarly terrible. "She died miserably; for even while alive she swarmed with maggots. So odious to the gods are the excesses of human vengeance." The word Εὐλαί , which the father of history employs in this passage, is generally considered as synonymous with Σκώληξ , inasmuch as it signifies the maggots or larvae produced by the carrion-eating flies; but the two terms are not equivalent, since the Greek Σκώληξ has a wider meaning, including all insect larvae without an exception (Arist. Hist. Anim. 2:1). For the account of insects infesting the human frame, from disease, see Kirby and Spence, Introd. To Entomology, 1:84; Bartholin, Morb. Bibl. c. 23; Mead, Bibl. Diseases, c. 15.

There are several species of earth-worms (lambricus) in Palestine similar to our own, but by far the most abundant of the so-called worms there are the myriapoda, or mellipedes, especially the scolopendra, which appear to perform the functions of the earth-worm in nature, though belonging to a very different order of animal life, and which supply food to many of the birds of the country (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, page 301). On the general subject, see Bochart, Hieroz. (ed. Rosenmuller, Leipsic, 1793-96), 3:519 sq.