groundworm en · NOUN
Etymology
ground + worm
Meanings
-
(dated, dialectal) earthworm
They are scheming and talking, as if they belonged, like a toad or a ground-worm, to the acre on which they were born:
1828, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson: with annotations, Volume 1, Houghton Mifflin (1909), Journal XIX, p. 239
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ground-worm | alternative | lexicographic | |
| groundworms | Number=Plur | lexicographic |