Word Meanings - VERMIN - Book Publishers vocabulary database

F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a worm, L. 1. An animal, in general. Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and vermin, and worms, and fowls. Acts x. 12. . This crocodile is a mischievous fourfooted beast,

Additional info about word: VERMIN

F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a worm, L. 1. An animal, in general. Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and vermin, and worms, and fowls. Acts x. 12. . This crocodile is a mischievous fourfooted beast, a dangerous vermin, used to both elements. Holland. 2. A noxious or mischievous animal; especially, noxious little animals or insects, collectively, as squirrels, rats, mice, flies, lice, bugs, etc. "Cruel hounds or some foul vermin." Chaucer. Great injuries these vermin, mice and rats, do in the field. Mortimer. They disdain such vermin when the mighty boar of the forest . . . is before them. Burke. 3. Hence, in contempt, noxious human beings. You are my prisoners, base vermin. Hudibras.

Related words: (words related to VERMIN)

• BEASTLIHEAD
  Beastliness. Spenser.
• EARTHLY-MINDED
  Having a mind devoted to earthly things; worldly-minded; -- opposed to spiritual-minded. -- Earth"ly-mind`ed*ness, n.
• WORMSEED
  Any one of several plants, as Artemisia santonica, and Chenopodium anthelminticum, whose seeds have the property of expelling worms from the stomach and intestines. Wormseed mustard, a slender, cruciferous plant having small lanceolate leaves.
• EARTH FLAX
  A variety of asbestus. See Amianthus.
• ANIMALIZATION
  1. The act of animalizing; the giving of animal life, or endowing with animal properties. 2. Conversion into animal matter by the process of assimilation. Owen.
• BEASTLIKE
  Like a beast.
• WHEREIN
  1. In which; in which place, thing, time, respect, or the like; -- used relatively. Her clothes wherein she was clad. Chaucer. There are times wherein a man ought to be cautious as well as innocent. Swift. 2. In what; -- used interrogatively. Yet
• ANIMALCULISM
  The theory which seeks to explain certain physiological and pathological by means of animalcules.
• EARTHDIN
  An earthquake.
• FOURFOOTED
  Having four feet; quadruped; as, fourfooted beasts.
• ANIMALITY
  Animal existence or nature. Locke.
• VERMINATION
  1. The generation or breeding of vermin. Derham. 2. A griping of the bowels.
• GENERALIZED
  Comprising structural characters which are separated in more specialized forms; synthetic; as, a generalized type.
• ANIMALLY
  Physically. G. Eliot.
• ANIMALNESS
  Animality.
• GENERALIZABLE
  Capable of being generalized, or reduced to a general form of statement, or brought under a general rule. Extreme cases are . . . not generalizable. Coleridge
• BEASTLINESS
  The state or quality of being beastly.
• VERMIN
  F. vermine, from L. vermis a worm; cf. LL. vermen a worm, L. 1. An animal, in general. Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and vermin, and worms, and fowls. Acts x. 12. . This crocodile is a mischievous fourfooted beast,
• BEASTINGS
  See BIESTINGS
• EARTHSTAR
  A curious fungus of the genus Geaster, in which the outer coating splits into the shape of a star, and the inner one forms a ball containing the dustlike spores.
• MAJOR GENERAL
  . An officer of the army holding a rank next above that of brigadier general and next below that of lieutenant general, and who usually commands a division or a corps.
• UNEARTHLY
  Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound. -- Un*earth"li*ness, n.
• UNMANNERLY
  Not mannerly; ill-bred; rude. -- adv.