worm

WORM

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noun

The definition of a worm is an animal that is slender, soft and often segmented, or an insect larva, or a nasty person, or an unauthorized computer program.
1. An example of a worm is a roundworm.
2. An example of a worm is the larva of a caterpillar.
3. An example of a worm is a person who always lies and cheats.
4. An example of a worm is a computer program that duplicates itself, fillling up all the storage space on a drive.

verb

Worm is defined as to creep around, wind through or sneak around in a suspicious way.
An example of worm is to crawl through a tunnel on your belly.

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worm

any of many slender, soft-bodied animals, some segmented, that live by burrowing underground, in water, or as parasites, including the annelids, nemerteans, nematodes, platyhelminths, acanthocephalans, and gordian worms
popularly
1. an insect larva, as a caterpillar, grub, or maggot
2. any of several mollusks, as the shipworms
3. any of various wormlike animals, as a rotifer or a blindworm
an abject, wretched, or contemptible person
something that gnaws or distresses one inwardly, suggesting a parasitic worm: the worm of conscience
something thought of as being wormlike because of its spiral shape, etc.; specif.,
1. the thread of a screw
2. the coil of a still
3. an Archimedean screw or similar apparatus
4. a short, rotating screw that meshes with the teeth of a worm gear or a rack
Archaic
1. a serpent
2. a dragon
Anat. any organ or part resembling a worm, as the vermiform process
Comput. an unauthorized, disruptive program, typically spread through communication lines, that creates copies of itself, thereby depleting a disk's or system's available memory
cf. virus (sense )
[pl.]Med. any disease or disorder caused by the presence of parasitic worms in the intestines, etc.
Zool. lytta

Origin of worm

Middle English from Old English wyrm, serpent, dragon, akin to German wurm from Indo-European base an unverified form wer-, to turn, bend from source warp, Classical Latin vermis, worm

to move, proceed, etc. like a worm, in a winding, creeping, or devious manner

to bring about, make, etc. in a winding, creeping, or devious manner: to worm one's way through a tunnel
to insinuate (oneself) into a situation, conversation, etc.
to extract (information, secrets, etc.) by insinuation, cajolery, or subtle questioning
to purge of intestinal worms
Naut. to fill the spaces between the strands of (a rope) with lengths of yarn or cord in order to make the surface even
to rid (tobacco plants) of worms or grubs

worm Idioms

can of worms

Informal a complex, usually unpleasant problem

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worm

noun

Any of various invertebrates, especially an annelid, flatworm, nematode, or nemertean, having a long, flexible, rounded or flattened body, often without obvious appendages.
Any of various crawling insect larvae, such as a grub or a caterpillar, having a soft elongated body.
Any of various other animals, such as a shipworm or a slowworm, having a long slender limbless body.
a. Something, such as the thread of a screw or the spiral condenser in a still, that resembles a worm in form or appearance.
b. The spirally threaded shaft of a worm gear.
An insidiously tormenting or devouring force: “felt the black worm of treachery growing in his heart” ( Mario Puzo )
A person regarded as pitiable or contemptible.
worms Medicine Infestation of the intestines or other parts of the body with parasitic worms; helminthiasis.
Computers A malicious program that replicates itself until it fills all of the storage space on a drive or network.

verb

wormed, worm·ing, worms

verb

transitive

To make (one's way) with the sinuous crawling motion of a worm.
To work (one's way or oneself) subtly or gradually; insinuate: She wormed her way into his confidence.
To elicit by artful or devious means. Usually used with out of : wormed a confession out of the suspect.
To cure of intestinal worms: wormed the dog.
Nautical To wrap yarn or twine spirally around (rope).

verb

intransitive

To move in a manner suggestive of a worm.
To make one's way by artful or devious means: He can't worm out of this situation.

Origin of worm

Middle English from Old English wurm variant of wyrm ; see wer-² in Indo-European roots.

WORM

abbreviation

Computers write once, read many

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Any of various invertebrate animals having a soft, long body that is round or flattened and usually lacks limbs. The term worm is used variously to refer to the segmented worms (or annelids, such as the earthworm), roundworms (or nematodes), flatworms (or platyhelminths), and various other groups.
A destructive computer program that copies itself over and over until it fills all of the storage space on a computer's hard drive or on a network.

A Closer Look Earthworms are one of many types of worms, including those of the flat and round species. Over a century ago, Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms and wrote The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms with Observations on Their Habits, an entire book that described his research on earthworm behavior and intelligence and further explained how important earthworms are to agriculture. “Long before [the plow] existed,” he wrote, “the land was, in fact, regularly plowed and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world.” Darwin was referring to the way that earthworms naturally mix and till soil, while both improving its structure and increasing its nutrients. As they tunnel in the soil, earthworms open channels that allow in air and water, improving drainage and easing the way for plants to send down roots; they also carry nutrients from deep soils to the surface. Earthworms eat plant material in the soil, decaying leaves, and leaf litter, and their own waste provides nourishment for plants and other organisms. Slime, a secretion of earthworms, contains nitrogen, an important plant nutrient. It is estimated that each year earthworms in one acre of land move 18 or more tons of soil.

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Noun

(plural worms)

A generally tubular invertebrate of the annelid phylum.
A contemptible or devious being.
Don't try to run away, you little worm!
(computing) A self-replicating program that propagates through a network.
(cricket) A graphical representation of the total runs scored in an innings.
Anything helical, especially the thread of a screw.
1. A spiral instrument or screw, often like a double corkscrew, used for drawing balls from firearms.
2. (anatomy) A muscular band in the tongue of some animals, such as dogs; the lytta.
3. The condensing tube of a still, often curved and wound to save space.
4. A short revolving screw whose threads drive, or are driven by, a worm wheel by gearing into its teeth or cogs.
(archaic) A dragon or mythological serpent.
Shakespeare
'Tis slander, / Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue / Outvenoms all the worms of Nile.
Longfellow
When Cerberus perceived us, the great worm, / His mouth he opened and displayed his tusks.
An internal tormentor; something that gnaws or afflicts one's mind with remorse.
The worm of conscience still begnaw thy soul! "” Richard III, William Shakespeare
(mathematics) A strip of linked tiles sharing parallel edges in a tiling.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present worms, present participle worming, simple past and past participle wormed)

To make (one's way) with a crawling motion.
We wormed our way through the underbrush.
(intransitive, figuratively) To work one's way by artful or devious means.
(figuratively) To work (one's way or oneself) (into) gradually or slowly; to insinuate.
He wormed his way into the organization
To effect, remove, drive, draw, or the like, by slow and secret means; often followed by out.
(figuratively) To obtain information from someone through artful or devious means (usually used with out of)
(nautical) To fill in the contlines of a rope before parcelling and serving.
Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
To deworm an animal.
(intransitive) To move with one's body dragging the ground.
To cut the worm, or lytta, from under the tongue of (a dog, etc.) for the purpose of checking a disposition to gnaw, and formerly supposed to guard against canine madness.
To clean by means of a worm; to draw a wad or cartridge from, as a firearm.

Origin

From Middle English worm, werm, wurm, wirm, from Old English wyrm "˜snake, worm', from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (compare Dutch worm, West Frisian wjirm, German Wurm, Danish orm), from Proto-Indo-European *wrÌ¥mis (compare Latin vermis '"˜worm', Lithuanian varÌƒmas "˜insect, midge', Albanian rrime "˜rainworm', Ancient Greek á¿¥ÏŒÎ¼Î¿Ï‚ (rhomos, “woodworm")), possibly from *wer- "˜to turn'. First computer usage by John Brunner in his 1975 book The Shockwave Rider.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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worm - Computer Definition

A type of malware that replicates itself across a computer network by making copies of itself, which it sends to other computers. A worm embeds itself in memory and may replicate itself so many times that it causes the host to crash. Note that a worm is neither a Trojan horse nor a virus. See also malware, spyware, Trojan horse, and virus.

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A worm is a self-replicating, self-contained software program that does not need to be part of another program to propagate. A virus, in contrast, attaches itself to and becomes part of another executable program. Worms as well as viruses typically contain some kind of malicious payload besides the propagation and infection mechanism.

On February 3, 2005, Sophos, Inc., a company providing virus detection and other security tools, warned that a version of the Bobax-H worm, hidden within Saddam Hussein photos showing him deceased, invaded computers and carried message warnings such as “Saddam Hussein: Attempted Escape. Shot Dead.” Other versions of the worm had pictures of an allegedly captured Osama Bin Laden. If activated, the payload had the same effect as the Sasser worm.

Security experts worldwide have been exploring various ways of stopping worms in their tracks. In April 2005, Professor Shigang Chen and Professor Sanjay Ranka at the University of Florida said they designed an Internet worm early-warning system to detect the initial sign of a malware attack. Professors Chen and Ranka said that their suggested early-warning system monitors a “used” address space and relies on RESET packets to find the scan sources. Their research paper focuses on TCP-focused worms and details a means of avoiding so-called “false positives” by viewing reply traffic from targets instead of monitoring the SYN packets to track half-open connections.

See Also: Attack; False Positives; Internet; Malware; Packet; Synchronize Packet (SYN); Virus.

Inquirer. Saddam Hussein “Death” Virus on Loose. [Online, February 3, 2005.] Breakthrough Publishing Ltd. Website http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21080; Naraine, R. Researchers Propose Early Warning System for Worms. [Online, April 20, 2005.] Ziff Davis Media Website. http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1788294,00.asp.

Webster's New World Hacker Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Bernadette Schell and Clemens Martin.
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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(1) A destructive program that replicates itself throughout a single computer or across a network, both wired and wireless. It can do damage by sheer reproduction, consuming internal disk and memory resources within a single computer or by exhausting network bandwidth. It can also deposit a Trojan that turns a computer into a zombie for spam and other malicious purposes. Very often, the terms "worm" and "virus" are used synonymously; however, worm implies an automatic method for reproducing itself in other computers. See virus, logic bomb, smartphone virus, Stuxnet, Worm.ExploreZip virus and Morris worm.

(2) A program that moves through a network and deposits information at each node for diagnostic purposes or causes idle computers to share some of the processing workload. See ethical worm.

(3) (WORM) (Write Once Read Many) An optical disc that can be recorded only once. Updating requires destroying the existing data (all 0s made 1s), and writing new data to an unused part of the disk. There are two kinds of WORM technologies. Ablative large-format (12-14") WORM is the traditional type, which makes a permanent change in the optical material. Continuous composite write (CCW) WORM is a mode in multifunction 5.25" optical (MO) drives that emulates a WORM drive. The data are not permanently changed, but the drive contains firmware that ensures that recorded areas are not rewritten. See optical disc and MDISC.

WORM Cartridges

Large-format 12-14" WORM drives have used the ablative technology. Magneto-optic drives have firmware that turns MO media into write-once disks.

Computer Desktop Encyclopedia THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. © 1981-2017 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.

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