Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any wormlike insect larva, as of certain beetles, that lives and grows in manure.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A worm that lives in muck.
- noun A miser; one who scrapes together money by mean devices.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A larva or grub that lives in muck or manure; -- applied to the larvæ of the tumbledung and allied beetles.
- noun One who scrapes together money by mean labor and devices; a miser.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
larva living inmud ormanure . - noun Someone who gathers wealth through overwork of employees and sordid means; a
miser .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word muckworm.
Examples
-
The levellers, whose muckworm minds, and love of the arts is only shown in that of money-getting -- maintained that the demolition of the
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 534, February 18, 1832 Various
-
"In that he lied like the muckworm that he is," I exclaimed.
The Strolling Saint; being the confessions of the high and mighty Agostino D'Anguissola, tyrant of Mondolfo and Lord of Carmina in the state of Piacenza Rafael Sabatini 1912
-
"You're a foul thing -- a muckworm -- Sir Rowland," added Trenchard amiably, "and you've been discourteous to a lady, for which may Heaven forgive you -- I can't."
Mistress Wilding Rafael Sabatini 1912
-
Armed with a bodkin and a barker he rushes and tushes his way through life, slitting weasands and dubbing every cully he meets a muckworm in the pleasant idiom current (so I take it on faith) in the time of our second JAMES.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 150, March 22, 1916 Various 1898
-
But alas, the stir, the scramble, the mad whirl of city life, the debasing contact with low material minds, the daily study of Prices Current, make even of me a muckworm.
A Pessimist In Theory and Practice Frederic Mayer Bird 1873
-
The fisherman, meanwhile, stands in three feet of water, under the same summer's sun, arbitrating in other cases between muckworm and shiner, amid the fragrance of water-lilies, mint, and pontederia, leading his life many rods from the dry land, within a pole's length of where the larger fishes swim.
-
If my conjectures are right, the threats of the old muckworm father have shaken the crazy nerves of the baronet; and I half suspect there is something more of meaning at the bottom of this.
Anna St. Ives Thomas Holcroft 1777
-
Federalist muckworm, poxy Democrat, and drop that forge bar.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.