Blindworm
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Anguis fragilis (slowworm), a small species of legless lizard.
"[…] we haue a blind worme to be found vnder logs in woods, and timber that hath lien long in a place, which some also doo call (and vpon better ground) by the name of [s]low worms, and they are knowen easilie by their more or lesse varietie of striped colours, drawen long waies from their heads, their whole bodies little excéeding a foot in length, & yet is there venem deadlie."
- 2 any of the small slender limbless burrowing wormlike amphibians of the order Gymnophiona; inhabit moist soil in tropical regions wordnet
- 3 small burrowing legless European lizard with tiny eyes; popularly believed to be blind wordnet
Example
More examples"[…] we haue a blind worme to be found vnder logs in woods, and timber that hath lien long in a place, which some also doo call (and vpon better ground) by the name of [s]low worms, and they are knowen easilie by their more or lesse varietie of striped colours, drawen long waies from their heads, their whole bodies little excéeding a foot in length, & yet is there venem deadlie."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English blynde worme, equivalent to blind + worm due to its very small eyes. Cognate with Swedish blindorm, blindödla.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.