Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having the shape of a worm; vermiform.
- adjective Having wavy markings shaped like worms; vermiculate.
- adjective Moving like a worm.
- adjective Caused by or relating to worms.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Noting limestone, sandstone, or shale rocks from which minerals have been dissolved leaving round holes or cavities which give the rock the appearance of having been worm-eaten.
- Like a worm in form or movement; vermiform; tortuous or sinuous; also, writhing or wriggling.
- Like the track or trace of a worm; appearing as if worm-eaten; vermiculate: as, vermicular erosions.
- Marked with fine, close-set, wavy or tortuous lines of color; vermiculated.
- In botany, shaped like a worm; thick, and almost cylindrical, but bent in different places, as some roots
- A form of rusticated masonry which is so wrought as to appear thickly indented with worm-tracks. See
rustic work , under rustic.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a worm or worms; resembling a worm; shaped like a worm; especially, resembling the motion or track of a worm. See
peristaltic . - adjective See under
Vermiculated .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of, pertaining to, or having the form of a
worm ;vermiculate
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective decorated with wormlike tracery or markings
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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This may readily be seen in the muscular action of the intestines, called vermicular motion.
A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell
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It has hence been called vermicular, or _wormlike motion_.
Popular Education For the use of Parents and Teachers, and for Young Persons of Both Sexes Ira Mayhew 1854
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By the time I had added an ordinary typewriter table to its scanty furnishing, I was hard put to turn around; at the best, I managed to navigate it by a sort of vermicular progression requiring great dexterity and presence of mind.
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Mush-on! you Siwashes! he cried, attempting, in a vermicular way, to kick at them, and discovering himself to be tottering on the edge of a declivity.
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Words I'm surprised Word do know: vermicular, ETA holmgang
All the cool kids are doing it-- mrissa 2007
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Later on, after the solstitial pause for refleshmeant, the same man (or a different and younger him of the same ham) asked in the vermicular with a very oggly chew-chin-grin: Was six vic-tolios fifteen pigeon takee offa you, tell he me, stlongfella, by picky-pocky ten to foul months behindaside?
Finnegans Wake 2006
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They led him to the back, up a vermicular staircase, past a tinkling fountain, to the girl's room.
The Shell Collector : Stories Anthony Doerr 2002
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They led him to the back, up a vermicular staircase, past a tinkling fountain, to the girl's room.
The Shell Collector : Stories Anthony Doerr 2002
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They led him to the back, up a vermicular staircase, past a tinkling fountain, to the girl's room.
The Shell Collector : Stories Anthony Doerr 2002
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Every pace or two he would hesitate as if to change his direction or even reverse it; his gait was described by a friend as “vermicular.”
The Worldly Philosophers Robert L. Heilbroner 1999
qms commented on the word vermicular
In the corporate maze reticular
Avoid the swagger in particular.
Be not bold nor antic
But sweetly sycophantic
And practice the wriggle vermicular.
September 17, 2014