cankerworm
(ˈkæŋkəwɜːm)
[canker n. 4.]
1. A caterpillar that destroys buds and leaves, a canker (sense 4). b. spec. (in U.S.) The larva of the Geometra brumata or winter moth.
| 1530 Palsgr. 202/2 Cancker worme, uer de chancre. 1611 Bible Joel i. 4 That which the locust hath left, hath the canker-worme eaten. 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 36 Viperous generation, caterpillars, moths, canker-worms. 1820 Scott Monast. v, Pestilential heresy..as a canker⁓worm in the rose-garland of the Spouse. 1841 Emerson Lect. Times Wks. (Bohn) II. 260 The canker-worms have crawled to the topmost bough of the wild elm. 1863 Longfellow Birds Killingw. 196 From the trees spun down the canker⁓worms upon the passers-by. |
2. fig.
| 1580 in Farr S.P. (1845) II. 307 Unto the minde a canker⁓worme of care. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. vi. (1851) 121 Must tradition..be the perpetuall canker-worme to eat out Gods commandments? 1858 Froude Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 148 Lies..are cankerworms, and spoil all causes, good or bad. |