worms
n. countablen. long, thin animals with soft bodies and no legs that live in the ground. You often see them in the garden after it rains.
n. invertebrate animals with long, slender, soft bodies and no limbs. Refers to various unrelated groups of organisms including annelids, nematodes, and platyhelminths.
The birds are looking for worms in the grass.
Charles Darwin spent years studying how worms process organic matter, eventually proving their vital role in maintaining the fertility of the world's topsoil through constant aeration and decomposition.
From German Worms, from Old High German Wormazia, Warmazia, etc., from Latin Vormatia, from a Gaulish name attested in Latin as Borbetomagus and Bormitomagus with influence from Latin -ātus (adjective-forming suffix) and -ia (toponym-forming suffix), of uncertain origin but usually conjectured to refer to the Celtic god Borvo or a river, spring, or other waters named for him + Proto-Celtic *magos (“field, plain”). Has no relation to worm.
Usually used in the plural when referring to the animals in a general sense.