ˈtaint-worm arch.
[f. taint n. + worm.]
A worm or crawling larva supposed to taint or infect cattle, etc.: cf. taint n. C. 3.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 150 Doo taint wormes good, that lurke where ox should eat? 1637 Milton Lycidas 46 As killing as the Canker to the Rose, Or Taint-worm to the weanling Herds that graze. 1840 Browning Sordello vi. 158 Study the corpse-face thro' the taint-worms' scurf. |