bookworm

[ boo k-wurm ]

/ ˈbʊkˌwɜrm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bookworm ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person devoted to reading or studying.

any of various insects that feed on books, especially a booklouse.

Nearby words

bookstall, bookstand, bookstore, booksy, bookwork, bookworm, bool, boole, boole's inequality, boolean, boolean algebra

Origin of bookworm

First recorded in 1590–1600; book + worm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for bookworm

We missed the Bookworm soon after breakfast, but Guy said we would soon find him if we drew the libraries.
Cornish Saints and Sinners|J. Henry Harris
Well, he said: 'That damned old landlubber and bookworm never addressed me in that manner,'—but perhaps he meant some one else.
My New Curate|P.A. Sheehan
I'm a watch, clock and tool maker by trade and a bookworm by taste.
The Texan Star|Joseph A. Altsheler
The Bookworm said the story was only one of a class, and it was quite easy to separate fact from fiction when we once knew how.
Cornish Saints and Sinners|J. Henry Harris

What had I--a man of thought, the bookworm of great libraries--to do with youth and beauty like thine own?
The World's Greatest Books, Volume V.|Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.

British Dictionary definitions for bookworm

bookworm

/ (ˈbʊkˌwɜːm) /

noun

a person excessively devoted to studying or reading

any of various small insects that feed on the binding paste of books, esp the book louse

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