angleworm

American

[ang-guhl-wurm] / ˈæŋ gəlˌwɜrm /

noun

Chiefly Northern, North Midland, and Western U.S.

an earthworm, as used for bait in angling.

angleworm British

/ ˈæŋɡəlˌwɜːm /

noun

an earthworm used as bait by anglers

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Regionalisms

See earthworm.

Etymology

Origin of angleworm

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; angle ² + worm

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

angleworm

It considered the mysteries and incantations of fishing, from spitting on angleworm segments to affixing trout cosmetics and bass liniments.

From Time Magazine Archive

Faced by a committee of angleworm lovers, Carroll Kjellman ... admitted he planted strips of rubber in the soil.

From Time Magazine Archive

He also offered to eat a bug for a nickel, an angleworm for a dime and a beetle for a quarter.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hemmed in by salt marshes, clinging to the angleworm course of the chocolate-colored Hooghly River, the city of Calcutta's 4,000,000 people inhabit an area about half the size of the District of Columbia.

From Time Magazine Archive

A thing like a giant angleworm, three feet or more in thickness and thrice that in length, its great body soft and cold and worm-like.

From Astounding Stories, April, 1931 by Various

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023