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

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

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Burkett, Charles William

I want to see child-faces—even if they can be clouded by envy's cankerworm!

From Lucky Pehr by Howard, Velma Swanston

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

Raupenleim: a patented sticky substance used to catch the cankerworm.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Burkett, Charles William