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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cankerworm

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

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

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 Charles William Burkett

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 Edmund Gosse

Now that little cankerworm, that has been gnawing at your roots of life for the last year or two, has done its worst, and you are perfectly free to go and make other mistakes.

From Robinetta by Allan McAulay

These birds also eat immense numbers of cankerworm eggs before they hatch into worms.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Charles William Burkett

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