cankerworm

American  

[kang-ker-wurm] / ˈkæŋ kərˌwɜrm /

noun

1. an inchworm, the larva of either of two geometrid moths, Paleacrita vernata spring cankerworm and Alsophila pometaria fall cankerworm: a foliage pest of various fruit and shade trees.

---

cankerworm British  

/ ˈkæŋkəˌwɜːm /

noun

1. the larva of either of two geometrid moths, Paleacrita vernata or Alsophila pometaria, which feed on and destroy fruit and shade trees in North America

---

Etymology

Origin of cankerworm

First recorded in 1520–30; canker + worm

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cankerworm

Chickadees and other winter-resident birds can protect orchards against the cankerworm.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

"Let us trust to Heaven to remove the cankerworm that is gnawing our vitals."

From The Fortunate Youth by Locke, William John

Mr. E. H. Forbush, Ornithologist of the Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, states that the stomachs of four chickadees contained 1,028 eggs of the cankerworm.

From Bird Day; How to prepare for it by Babcock, Charles Almanzo

Throughout the winter a single chickadee will destroy great numbers of the eggs of the cankerworm moth and of the plant louse.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Burkett, Charles William

What the palmer worm had left, the locust had eaten; what the locust had left, the cankerworm had eaten; and what the cankerworm had left, the caterpillar had eaten. 

From The Good News of God by Kingsley, Charles