muckworm
Americannoun
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(not in technical use) the larva of any of several insects, as the dung beetle, which lives in or beneath manure.
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a miser.
noun
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any larva or worm that lives in mud
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informal a miser
Etymology
Origin of muckworm
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The city muckworm, who Prom peacock orient, scarce could tell a cock Of hay!
From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by Parton, James
I am sick To think her wretched masters, Hamilton, The muckworm Cottington, the maniac Laud, May yet be longed-for back again.
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Clarke, Helen Archibald
If the Old Lord Chatham were now alive, he would speak with respect of the muckworm, as he called the 'Change Alley people.
From Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810-1823 by Ricardo, David
The muckworm is no longer a creeping thing; it rears its head aloft, and makes the haughty borough-lords sneak about in holes and corners.'...
From Letters of David Ricardo to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1810-1823 by Ricardo, David
The "muckworm" Cottington, as Browning calls him, suggested the sentence which was carried out.
From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Clarke, Helen Archibald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
