Word.ws English Dictionary

shipworms

shipworms is the plural of shipworm.

Meaning of shipworm

Noun

shipworm (plural shipworms)

  1. Any of several wormlike marine molluscs (not true worms) of the family Teredinidae that bore through the wooden hulls of ships and other woody material immersed in salt water; specifically, the naval shipworm or turu (Teredo navalis), the type species of the genus Teredo.
    • Ship-VVorms [running head] […] It is reported that thoſe VVorms vvhich get into a Ships bottom in the ſalt vvater, vvill dye in the freſh vvater; and that the freſh vvater VVorms vvill dye in ſalt vvater: but in brackiſh vvater both ſorts vvill increaſe prodigiouſly.1697, William Dampier, chapter XIII, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 363

Questions about shipworms

What is shipworms the plural of?
Shipworms is the plural of shipworm.

Words near shipworms in the dictionary

  1. shipwork
  2. shipworker
  3. shipworkers
  4. shipworks
  5. shipworm
  6. shipworms
  7. shipwrack
  8. shipwracke
  9. shipwrackes
  10. shipwracks
  11. shipwreck

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: shipworms (page history and authors); shipworm (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.

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