| 释义 |
ˈmuckworm
[f. muck n.1 + worm.]
1. A worm or grub that lives in ‘muck’; in U.S. spec. (see quot. 1842).
1685A. Horneck Crucif. Jesus xxiii. 795 Grovel in the dust like a muckworm. 1842T. W. Harris Insects Injur. Veget. (1862) 31 note, There is a grub..which is frequently found under old manure-heaps, and is commonly called muckworm. It..is transformed to a dung-beetle called Scarabæus relictus by Mr. Say. 1856G. Brimley Ess. 230 A human soul metamorphosing itself into a muckworm.
2. fig. in various applications.
a. A miserly person, ‘money-grubber’.
1598Bp. Hall Sat. iv. vi, Each muckworm will be rich with lawless gain. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 393 He's a covetous fellow, a very muckworm. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. l, Here you a muckworm of the town might see, At his dull desk. 1873H. Rogers Orig. Bible vi. 222 A mere muckworm, sordid and rapacious in the extreme.
b. A person of the lowest origin. ? Obs.
1695Congreve Love for L. ii. vii, 'Oons whose Son are you? how were you engendred, Muckworm?
c. One who is mentally or morally degraded. In quots. appositive and in Comb.
a1635Randolph Hey for Honesty Wks. (1875) 377 Muckworm-minded men. 1751Smollett Per. Pic. xciii, As light-headed as some muck-worm philosophers.
d. A ‘gutter-snipe’, or street urchin.
1859J. R. Green Oxf. Stud. ii. §4 (O.H.S.) 57 The little Miss..is forbidden to play with the muckworms of the neighborhood. 1891Hall Caine Scapegoat iii, The veriest muckworm in the market-place spat out at sight of him. |