wormling

English

Etymology

From worm +‎ -ling. Compare Icelandic yrmlingur (“wormling”).

Noun

wormling (plural wormlings)

  1. A small or young worm.
    • 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, translated by Josuah Sylvester, Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC:
      O dusty wormling! dar'st thou strive and stand / With Heav'ns high Monarch?
  2. (by extension) Any weak, mean, or lowly creature.
    • 1797, Alexander Geddes, A New Translation of the Book of Psalms, published 1807:
      But I am a wormling, and not a man; the scorn of men, and derision of the people.

References

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