vermicle
(ˈvɜːmɪk(ə)l)
Also 4 vermycle.
[ad. L. vermiculus little worm; also (late L.) scarlet colour. Cf. vermicule and vermeil.]
† 1. = vermilion n. 3 a. Obs. rare.
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. xxxviii. 23 A worcher with nedlis, of iacynct, and purpur, reed clooth [altered from vermycle], and bijs. Ibid. xxxix. 1. |
2. Biol. A small worm or grub; a vermicule.
| 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 392 A certain insect, or fly or vermicle. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 426 A little Vermicle, as small as a Mite. 1746 Ibid. XLIV. 353 The Vermicles [of Ants]..in a few Days infold themselves in a soft silken kind of Tissue. 1747 Gould Eng. Ants 76 The next..Exercise belonging to the working Ants, is feeding the Maggots or Vermicles. 1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) III. 366 Vermicles or the larvæ of insects have at times been found in the open ulcer of a cancer. Ibid. V. 661 An egg, which gives rise to a minute vermicle or larve. 1880 Nature XXI. 453 The bodies thus evolved simulate worms so closely..that Gaule styles them ‘Würmchen’, which may be translated vermicles. |