Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A small European lizard, Anguis fragilis, of the family Anguidæ, having a slender limbless body and tail, like a snake, rudimentary shoulder-girdle, breast-bone, and pelvis, a scaly skin, concealed ears, and small eyes furnished with movable lids: so called because supposed to be a sightless worm, a notion as erroneous as is the supposition that it is poisonous. Also called
orvet and slow-worm.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A small, burrowing, snakelike, limbless lizard (
Anguis fragilis ), with minute eyes, popularly believed to be blind; the slowworm; -- formerly a name for the adder.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun the
slowworm
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of the small slender limbless burrowing wormlike amphibians of the order Gymnophiona; inhabit moist soil in tropical regions
- noun small burrowing legless European lizard with tiny eyes; popularly believed to be blind
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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"I can understand the reasons why Andy is being spoken about because he is different," he revealed, adding "Apart from his size he is also a left-footed player" lest we might conclude that this difference involved living in a fridge, communicating only via the lyrics of The Carpenters and slithering around on his belly after dark like a blindworm.
Will Andy Carroll prove the difference that destroys the planet? Harry Pearson 2010
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I found delightful adventures in the woods—one day a blindworm and an adder fighting in a green hollow—and sometimes Mrs. Earle would be afraid to tidy the room because I had put a bottle full of newts on the mantelpiece.
Collected Works of W. B. Yeats Volume III Autobiographies W.B. Yeats 1965
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I found delightful adventures in the woods—one day a blindworm and an adder fighting in a green hollow—and sometimes Mrs. Earle would be afraid to tidy the room because I had put a bottle full of newts on the mantelpiece.
Collected Works of W. B. Yeats Volume III Autobiographies W.B. Yeats 1965
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I found delightful adventures in the woods—one day a blindworm and an adder fighting in a green hollow—and sometimes Mrs. Earle would be afraid to tidy the room because I had put a bottle full of newts on the mantelpiece.
Collected Works of W. B. Yeats Volume III Autobiographies W.B. Yeats 1965
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I found delightful adventures in the woods—one day a blindworm and an adder fighting in a green hollow—and sometimes Mrs. Earle would be afraid to tidy the room because I had put a bottle full of newts on the mantelpiece.
Collected Works of W. B. Yeats Volume III Autobiographies W.B. Yeats 1965
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It was a greenly weaving ribbon of light, a snakelike stream of glowing, phosphorescent particles that moved like a blindworm over and across the vast rocky shelf.
Hero Of Dreams Lumley, Brian 1986
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"He might have had some kind of herb, or maybe some juice from a blindworm, to make us blind."
Dragon on a Pedestal Anthony, Piers 1983
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I found delightful adventures in the woods—one day a blindworm and an adder fighting in a green hollow—and sometimes Mrs. Earle would be afraid to tidy the room because I had put a bottle full of newts on the mantelpiece.
Autobiographies W.B. Yeats 1965
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I found delightful adventures in the woods—one day a blindworm and an adder fighting in a green hollow—and sometimes Mrs. Earle would be afraid to tidy the room because I had put a bottle full of newts on the mantelpiece.
Autobiographies W.B. Yeats 1965
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The blindworm coils where Queens have slept, nor asks
Brittany & Its Byways Fanny Bury Palliser
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