Word.ws English Dictionary

glow-worm

glow-worm is the alternative spelling of glowworm.

Meaning of glowworm

Noun

glowworm (plural glowworms)

  1. The larva or wingless grub-like female of a beetle from the families Phengodidae or Lampyridae that gives out a green light from its abdomen.
    • The glowworm shows the matin to be near
      And ’gins to pale his uneffectual fire.
      Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  2. (Australia, New Zealand) A carnivorous gnat larva in the keroplatid genus Arachnocampa that spins threads to capture insects attracted by its glow.

Forms of glow-worm

pluralglow-worms

Phrases with glow-worm

Questions about glow-worm

What is glow-worm the alternative spelling of?
Glow-worm is the alternative spelling of glowworm.

Words near glow-worm in the dictionary

  1. glow-lamps
  2. glow-nigger
  3. glow-niggers
  4. glow-up
  5. glow-ups
  6. glow-worm
  7. glow-worms
  8. Glowacki
  9. Glowackis
  10. glowbar
  11. glowbars

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: glow-worm (page history and authors); glowworm (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-glow-worm.wav.

Cite this entry: “glow-worm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/glow-worm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.