to worm
- verb
- /wɜrm/
- Informal
- You've managed to worm your way onto the team and bring your weirdo, little friend along, too.
He's been trying to worm his way out sometime.
- He's been trying to worm his way out sometime.
- This excuse I am brutally honest is often how they will try to worm out of their insensitive and careless comments and their lack of empathy.
Examples
-
Little by little, Pancho wormed the story out of him.
Fiction book (2001) -
You're crafting quite the little role for yourself as you worm your way into the Manzo family.
Blog text (18) -
So this is how one worms one's way into my castle.
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Then she shows up, worms her way into the family, and gets me fired.
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And you're not trying to worm your way back into my service?
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Well, I finally wormed it out of him.
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And he would not find it easy to worm his way back into her good graces.
Fiction book (1992) -
We'll try and get montag here on this show and see if we can't worm some of his dark secrets out of him.
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You're trying to worm your way back into favour by dreaming up some far-fetched drama, of which you yourself, naturally, are the hero.
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He had to worm his way through several layers of bureaucracy to get his project approved.
Synonyms
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 Intrusive
Surface Forms
Etymology
To worm information out of someone uses the picture of a worm slipping out by slow movement, from the old word wyrm meaning 'to creep' or 'to wriggle'. So to worm a secret out of someone is to get it slowly and carefully, often by sly questions.