gnatworm

English

Alternative forms

• gnat worm, gnat-worm

Etymology

gnat +‎ worm

Noun

gnatworm (plural gnatworms)

1. (rare) The aquatic larva of a gnat.

   Synonym: wiggler

   • 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia, page 160:

     He that would behold a very anomalous motion, may observe it in the Tortile and tiring stroaks of Gnatworms

   • 1909, Adolf Severin Jensen, “On the Mollusca of East-Greenland”, in Meddelelser om Gronland, page 345:

     Here a rich insect-life had developped: Argynnis, wasps and Syrphidae, besides numerous dancing gnatworms.

   • 1962, Lev Semenovich Berg, Freshwater Fishes of the U.S.S.R. and Adjacent Countries, page 55:

     The fry of kaluga fish, gnatworms, freshwater prawns, mysids, etc.

References

• “gnatworm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.