Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In angling, a worm bred in meal or flour, used for bait in fishing.
- noun The grub or larva of a meal-beetle, as Tencbrio molitor, which infests granaries, corn-mills, bakehouses, etc., and is very injurious to flour and meal. See
meal-beetle .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word meal-worm.
Examples
-
The act is so rapid that one can never see the tongue that has picked up the meal-worm -- simply it is gone!
Wild Nature Won By Kindness Elizabeth Brightwen
-
By exercising extreme caution, and approaching inch by inch, I have climbed a tree to the nest of a yellow-throated vireo, and at the first attempt handed the bird a meal-worm with my fingers.
Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation William Temple Hornaday 1895
-
Let me tell you, "he continued with ferocity," you will drink when I please, and where I please, and as often as I please, and as much as I please, you meal-worm!
The Long Night Stanley John Weyman 1891
-
Often, when I put a bit of apple or a meal-worm in his cage, he stood and looked at it and at me, but did not move till I turned away, or walked out of his sight, when he instantly pounced upon it as if starved.
In Nesting Time Olive Thorne Miller 1874
-
Later, when a meal-worm was given to him, he did not eat it, but held it in his beak, hopped over to her side, tried to get through the wires, and plainly thought of offering it to her.
In Nesting Time Olive Thorne Miller 1874
-
In the same deliberate and characteristic way he disposed of a meal-worm, or a bit of beef, which he enjoyed.
In Nesting Time Olive Thorne Miller 1874
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.