warnel Now dial.
(ˈwɔːnəl)
Forms: 1 wernæᵹel, 7 warnell, wornel, 8– wornil (9 corruptly wommal, wurmal), 8– warnel.
[OE. wernæᵹel, perh. f. *wearh pus (see ware n.6, waribreed) + næᵹel nail n.]
1. A hard tumour on the back of cattle, produced by the larva of a gadfly: = warble n.2 2.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 28 Þa lærde hi sum iudeisc man, þæt heo name ænne wernæᵹel of sumes oxan hricge [etc.]. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 838 Warbles or wommals, that is, small swelled protuberances along the chine, caused by the larvæ of the Œstrus bovis or cattle-bot. 1852 T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. 500 Large open boils, some⁓times called wornils or wurmals, that is, worm-holes. 1864–5 Wood Homes without H. xxvi. (1868) 512 The swellings caused by the Breeze Fly are called Wurbles or Wornils. |
b. The maggot producing tumours of this kind: = warble n.2 3.
| 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland xxviii. 132 About March worms or wornels do begin to breed in their backs. 1713 Derham Phys.-Theol. viii. vi. (1727) 378 In the Backs of Cows..there are Maggots generated, which in Essex we call Wornils; which are first only a small Knot in the Skin. |
c. Comb.
| 1708 Kersey, Warnel-worms, certain Worms that stick within the Skin of Cattel on their Backs. Whence in later Dicts. |
† 2. = agnail 1. Obs.
| 1611 Cotgr., Frouelle, An agnell, pinne, or warnell in the toe. |