cankerworm
Noun
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Noun
cankerworm (plural cankerworms)
- Either of two caterpillars, the larvae of geometrid moths, that are destructive to fruit, buds and leaves.
- (figurative) A corrupting or destructive force.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.2:
- O cursed Eld the cankerworme of writs, / How may these rimes, so rude as doth appeare, / Hope to endure, sith workes of heauenly wits / Are quite deuourd, and brought to nought by little bits?
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.2:
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.005