wireworm

American  

[wahyuhr-wurm] / ˈwaɪərˌwɜrm /

noun

1. any of the slender, hard-bodied larvae of click beetles, many of which live underground and feed on the roots of plants.

2. any of various small myriapods.

3. stomach worm.

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wireworm British  

/ ˈwaɪəˌwɜːm /

noun

1. the wormlike larva of various elaterid beetles, which feeds on the roots of many crop plants and is a serious agricultural pest

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Etymology

Origin of wireworm

First recorded in 1780–90; wire + worm

Example Sentences

Six species of cotton insects, along with an assortment of thrips, fruit moths, leaf hoppers, caterpillars, mites, aphids, wireworms, and many others now are able to ignore the farmer’s assault with chemical sprays.

From Literature

In a fresh state it is poisonous and fatal to vegetation, and is often used for this reason to dress land infested with wireworms, grubs, club-root fungus, &c.

From Project Gutenberg

The larvæ of the Elateridæ, known as wireworms, are long and slender, with short legs.

From Project Gutenberg

This consists of grain, seeds, an enormous quantity of wireworms, small insects, especially ants and their eggs, and green herbage.

From Project Gutenberg

Among the Coleoptera or beetles there is a group of world-wide pests, the Elateridae or click beetles, the adults of the various “wireworms.”

From Project Gutenberg