hookworm

[ hook-wurm ]

/ ˈhʊkˌwɜrm /

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noun

any of certain bloodsucking nematode worms, as Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus, parasitic in the intestine of humans and other animals.

Also called hookworm disease . a disease caused by hookworms, which may enter the body by ingestion or through the skin of the feet or legs, causing abdominal pain, nausea, and, if untreated, severe anemia.

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Origin of hookworm

First recorded in 1900–05; hook¹ + worm

OTHER WORDS FROM hookworm

hookwormy, adjective

Words nearby hookworm

hook shot, hookswinging, hooktender, hook-tip, hookup, hookworm, hookworm disease, hooky, hooley, hoolie, hooligan

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use hookworm in a sentence

According to Mejia, warming in the Southeast has doubled the length of the infectious season for parasites such as hookworm, whose larvae hatch in warm, moist soils and infiltrate humans through bare feet.
Battling America’s ‘dirty secret’|Sarah Kaplan|December 17, 2020|Washington Post
Probably none are so infected with spiritual hookworm as the immigrants from Naples.
The Old World in the New|Edward Alsworth Ross
Vinegar eels, the horsehair worm, the pork worm or trichina and the dread hookworm are examples.
A Civic Biology|George William Hunter
The people, largely farmers, become infected with a larval stage of the hookworm, which develops in moist earth.
A Civic Biology|George William Hunter

The hookworm, deadly as an asp, has got you in its loathsome grasp!
Uncle Walt [Walt Mason]|Walt Mason
But I will break the hookworm lose, and cook its everlasting goose!
Uncle Walt [Walt Mason]|Walt Mason

British Dictionary definitions for hookworm

hookworm

/ (ˈhʊkˌwɜːm) /

noun

any parasitic blood-sucking nematode worm of the family Ancylostomatidae, esp Ancylostoma duodenale or Necator americanus, both of which cause disease. They have hooked mouthparts and enter their hosts by boring through the skin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for hookworm

hookworm

[ huk′wûrm′ ]

Any of numerous small parasitic nematodes of the family Ancylostomatidae having hooked mouthparts with which they fasten themselves to the intestinal walls of various hosts, including humans.

Scientific definitions for hookworm

hookworm

[ huk′wûrm′ ]

Any of numerous small, parasitic nematode worms of the family Ancylostomatidae, having hooked mouthparts with which they fasten themselves to the intestinal walls of various animals, including humans.