Teredo

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A mollusc of the genus Teredo, especially of species Teredo navalis.

    "Meet fell Teredo, as he mines the keel / With beaked head, and break his lips of steel […]."

  2. 2
    typical shipworm wordnet

Example

More examples

"Meet fell Teredo, as he mines the keel / With beaked head, and break his lips of steel […]."

Etymology

From Latin terēdō (“woodworm”), from Ancient Greek τερηδών (terēdṓn, “wood-worm”). Compare Ancient Greek: τέρην (térēn, “smooth, gentle”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.