to worm
- verb
- /wɜrm/
- The OmniTread Search and Rescue Robot has been designed to worm its way through debris to look for trapped people.
- worm its way
- worm one's way around
Examples
-
I watched as they wormed their way up the slippery brace.
Fiction book (2001) -
Told you I'd worm myself in somehow.
-
Well in that case I guess I'll just have to worm myself in.
-
Worming its way across the surface, trying to find a way inside.
Fiction book (1998) -
For months, teams and individual agents wormed their way into the planet's population, industrial and military centres.
-
I pulled back the entrance flap, waiting for Raven to worm her way in.
Fiction book (1995) -
A moment later, Hawthorne wormed his way through the narrow opening.
Fiction book (1990) -
It nudged past the red ball and wormed its way into the circle.
Fiction book (1999) -
By the time he wormed himself back into the pit beside her, Dan was bathed in cold sweat and puffing hard.
Fiction book (2001) -
He tried to worm his way through the crowded room without being noticed.
Synonyms
To turn something so it becomes a curved or spiral shape
To make small twisting movements of your body because you feel uncomfortable
To move in a long, curving line
To move smoothly and quietly like a snake along the ground
To twist and turn the body with small quick movements to get free
To move in a twisting spiral path
Moving with small twisting and squirming movements like a worm
Moving smoothly and quietly like a snake
Moving by twisting and turning like a snake
Antonyms
Idioms
Compounds
- Specialized
An infection from drinking water with baby worms that causes painful blisters when the worm comes out
- Specialized
A small parasite that lives in people and comes out through the skin causing strong pain after drinking dirty water
A small red earthworm that lives in soil, helps make soil better, and people use it as fishing bait
- Specialized
A small animal that lives inside another animal and takes its food, often causing sickness
- Specialized
A gear with a screw shaft that turns a toothed wheel to change direction and make turning slower and stronger
- Specialized
A thin sea animal that lives in a tube on the deep ocean floor and has tentacles
- Specialized
A soft sac in an animal that is filled with fluid and contains a young tapeworm
A large earthworm that comes out at night or when the ground is wet and people use for fishing
- Specialized
A long soft animal with a body made of many rings, like earthworms and leeches
- Specialized
A caterpillar that moves in large groups and eats crops like grass and grain
A small caterpillar with legs only near its head and tail that moves by making a loop
- Specialized
A very small thin animal with a pointed body that lives in soil or inside other living things
- Specialized
A soft sea animal like a thin worm that stretches a long head to catch food
- Specialized
A small sea worm that pulls its front part into its body and looks like a peanut
- Specialized
A sea worm with many body segments and small bristles on each segment
- Specialized
A worm that lives in the sea with many small bristles on its sides that help it move
- Specialized
A large green caterpillar with white stripes that eats potato and tomato leaves
A worm with a long body made of many ring-shaped parts like an earthworm or leech
- Specialized
A large green caterpillar with white stripes that eats tomato and tobacco plants
- Specialized
A small wormlike parasite with hooks that lives inside the nose of animals like dogs or cows
- Specialized
A parasite that lives in animal intestines and can pull its spiny head back to hold on
- Specialized
A small soft animal with velvety skin that catches prey with sticky slime
- Specialized
A very small worm that lives in vinegar and eats tiny living things that make it turn sour
- Specialized
A small, long tropical fish that lives in shallow water and hides in seagrass
- Specialized
A small thin salamander that looks like a worm and lives on the Pacific coast of the United States
- Specialized
A gear that fits with a screw-shaped gear to turn movement at a right angle
How Slowly
Surface Forms
Etymology
To worm (move) comes from the same image as the animal wyrm and means 'to creep' or 'to wriggle' along. So to worm out of a place is to twist and slip away slowly like a worm.