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

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

From The Bible Story by Hall, Newton Marshall

He spake, and the locust came, And the cankerworm, and that without number, And did eat up every herb in their land, And did eat up the fruit of their ground.

From The Bible Story by Hall, Newton Marshall

A cankerworm pegging away at your vitals in secret, as well as I make it out?” said Mr. Click, eyeing me with some admiration.

From Somebody's Luggage by Dickens, Charles

The plagues of Egypt as written in the Book of Exodus, furnish an example; as also the incursions of cankerworm, locust, caterpillar and palmerworm recorded elsewhere in Scripture.

From Old Farm Fairies: A Summer Campaign In Brownieland Against King Cobweaver's Pixies by McCook, Henry Christopher