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Squirm

//skwɜːm// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A twisting, snakelike movement of the body.
  2. 2
    the act of wiggling wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To twist one's body with snakelike motions. intransitive

    "The prisoner managed to squirm out of the straitjacket."

  2. 2
    to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling) wordnet
  3. 3
    To twist in discomfort, especially from shame or embarrassment. intransitive

    "I recounted the embarrassing story in detail just to watch him squirm."

  4. 4
    To evade a question, an interviewer etc.

Etymology

Etymology 1

First recorded 1690's, originally used of eels; cognate with Scots squimmer (“to wriggle, squirm”). Of uncertain origin. Compare dialectal quirm, whirm (“to disappear quickly, vanish suddenly and mysteriously”), Norwegian kverva (“to turn around, take away, remove, shrink”), from Old Norse hverfa (“to turn, vanish”). Alternatively, perhaps imitative or related to worm (in the sense of writhing movement) or swarm.

Etymology 2

First recorded 1690's, originally used of eels; cognate with Scots squimmer (“to wriggle, squirm”). Of uncertain origin. Compare dialectal quirm, whirm (“to disappear quickly, vanish suddenly and mysteriously”), Norwegian kverva (“to turn around, take away, remove, shrink”), from Old Norse hverfa (“to turn, vanish”). Alternatively, perhaps imitative or related to worm (in the sense of writhing movement) or swarm.

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