blindworm

American  

[blahynd-wurm] / ˈblaɪndˌwɜrm /

noun

1. a limbless European lizard, Anguis fragilis, related to the glass lizards.

2. a caecilian, Ichthyophis glutinosus, of Sri Lanka, that coils around its eggs.

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blindworm British  

/ ˈblaɪndˌwɜːm /

noun

1. another name for slowworm

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Etymology

Origin of blindworm

1425–75; late Middle English; blind, worm; so called because the eyes are very small

Example Sentences

And within the grave there is no pleasure, forthe blindworm battens on the root,And Desire shudders into ashes, and the tree ofPassion bears no fruit.

From Ballad of Reading Gaol by Wilde, Oscar

The blindworm then, is Saurophidian; it is quite as much a lizard as a snake.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. by Various

The lizard has its jaws fixed; so has the blindworm.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. by Various

"The greater slow worm, called also the blindworm, is commonly thought to be blind, because of the littleness of his eyes."—GREW: ib.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold

I occasionally saw a snake, but always of the harmless, blindworm variety.

From Jethou or Crusoe Life in the Channel Isles by Suffling, Ernest R. (Ernest Richard)