tapeworm
(ˈteɪpwɜːm)
[f. tape n.1 + worm; from its flat ribbon-like form.]
A cestoid worm (e.g. Tænia solium), which when adult infests the alimentary canal of vertebrates; = tænia 5.
| 1752 J. Hill Hist. Anim. 15 The flat Tænia. The Tape-worm..is found in the human intestines, and in those of many other animals. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 277 Successful experiments, not only to discover that unwelcome visitor the tape worm, but likewise to destroy and expel it. 1860 G. H. Kingsley in Vac. Tour. 163 The trout in some of the lakes have been infested with tapeworm. |
b. fig. A parasite.
| 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. ii. x. (1849) 246 They were absolute tape-worms to my little theatre; the more it took the poorer it grew. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Culture Wks. (Bohn) II. 369 Can we never extract this tape-worm of Europe from the brain of our countrymen? |
c. attrib. and Comb., as tapeworm infection; tapeworm-shaped adj.; tapeworm-plant, an Abyssinian tree, Brayera anthelmintica (N.O. Rosaceæ), the pistillate inflorescence of which is used as a vermifuge (Cent. Dict. 1891).
| 1839 G. Roberts Dict. Geol., Tænianus,..tape worm shaped. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 1019 In many instances of tape-worm infection, the parasite appears to give rise to no inconvenience whatever. |