wireworm
(ˈwaɪəwɜːm)
1. The slender hard-skinned larva of any of the click-beetles (family Elateridæ), which is destructive to the roots of plants; also applied to similar larvæ, esp. the leather-jacket grub of the crane-fly.
| 1790 Trans. Soc. Arts VIII. 302 The person who shall discover to the Society an effectual method..of destroying the insect called the Wire-Worm. 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. I. vi. 181 The wire-worm..destroying indiscriminately wheat, rye, oats, and grass. 1882 Garden 18 Mar. 189/3, I..found the crop quite eaten up with wireworm. |
2. A myriapod, esp. one belonging to the genus Iulus; a millepede.
| 1875 Melliss St. Helena 202 Julus pulchellus, Leach.—The Wire Worm, well known as one of the most destructive insects in the Island to all root-crops. |