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.

---

blindworm British  

/ ˈblaɪndˌwɜːm /

noun

1. another name for slowworm

---

Etymology

Origin of blindworm

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

Example Sentences

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)

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 walls where hung the warrior's shining casque Are green with moss and mould; The blindworm coils where Queens have slept, nor asks For shelter from the cold.

From Brittany & Its Byways by Palliser, Bury, Mrs.

I touched it with my stick, when the pot-handle drew itself out of loop shape and slowly disappeared under some dead furze, showing the blunt tail of a blindworm.

From Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies by Jefferies, Richard

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