Advertisement

Advertisement

tapeworm

[ teyp-wurm ]

noun

  1. any of various flat or tapelike worms of the class Cestoidea, lacking an alimentary canal, and parasitic when adult in the alimentary canal of humans and other vertebrates: the larval and adult stages are usually in different hosts.


tapeworm

/ ˈteɪpˌwɜːm /

noun

  1. any parasitic ribbon-like flatworm of the class Cestoda, having a body divided into many egg-producing segments and lacking a mouth and gut. The adults inhabit the intestines of vertebrates See also echinococcus taenia
“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


tapeworm

/ tāpwûrm′ /

  1. See cestode


tapeworm

  1. A worm with a long, flat body that can live in the human intestines as a parasite . Infestation with a tapeworm usually occurs as the result of eating raw meat or fish that contains the immature form of the worm.


Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of tapeworm1

First recorded in 1745–55; tape + worm
Discover More

Example Sentences

"Health-care costs in this country are a tapeworm of American business," he continued.

(a) Flatworms are sometimes parasitic, examples being the tapeworm and liver fluke.

Such is seen in the life history of the liver fluke, a flatworm which kills sheep, and in the tapeworm.

If man eats raw or undercooked pork containing these worms, he may become a host for the tapeworm.

Another common tapeworm parasitic on man lives part of its life as an embryo within the muscles of cattle.

Strobila, stro-bī′la, n. a discomedusan at the stage succeeding the scyphistoma: a segmented tapeworm.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


tapetumtaphephobia