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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of cankerworm

First recorded in 1520–30; canker + worm

Example Sentences

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

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

That which the palmerworm hath left Hath the locust eaten; And that which the locust hath left Hath the cankerworm eaten; And that which the cankerworm hath left Hath the caterpillar eaten.

From Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature by Moulton, Richard Green

This gives a total of nearly twenty thousand cankerworm moth eggs destroyed by four birds in a few minutes.

From The Bird Study Book by Pearson, Thomas Gilbert

He does not admit that Christianity itself is immune from the ravages of this essential cankerworm, which adopts all disguises and slips from one Protean shape into another.

From Three French Moralists and The Gallantry of France by Gosse, Edmund

Her son was not, and her fair daughter was withering before her, as a flower on which the cankerworm had fixed its teeth.

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 14 by Various