galleyworm

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English

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Etymology

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From the way this creature resembles a worm with many legs, and the way the legs resemble the oars of a ship.

Noun

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galleyworm (plural galleyworms)

  1. A centipede or millipede.
    • 1936, Rennie Wilbur Doane, Edwin Cooper Van Dyke, Willard Joseph Chamberlin, Forest Insects, page 212:
      The larvae are elongated and in many cases much like the more flattened millipedes or galleyworms in appearance.
    • 1972, René Maran, Batouala: A True Black Novel, page 64:
      that evil idiot, who walked slowly dragging himself along like a galleyworm.
    • 1996, Graziella Parati, Public History, Private Stories: Italian Women's Autobiography, page 85:
      Once I managed to combine something in which I had included also roach pulp and galleyworm legs.