slimeballs

Noun

slimeball (plural slimeballs)

1. A round lump made up of or coated with slime or a slime-like substance such as mucus.
   1. (specifically) A mucus-coated lump containing the cercariae (“parasitic larvae”) of a liver fluke (of the phylum Platyhelminthes).
      • The eggs [of a lancet fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum)] that pass out with the manure of an infested sheep do not hatch in the open. When eaten by the snail, they hatch and finally give rise to larvae that pass out of the snail's body in gelatinous "slime[-]balls."1957 May, J[ohn] T. Lucker, A. O. Foster, “Adult Tapeworms”, in Parasites and Parasitic Diseases of Sheep (Farmers’ Bulletin; no. 1330), Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture...
2. (colloquial, derogatory, figuratively) A person who is slimy (that is, sneaky or underhanded) or otherwise undesirable.
   • Even slimeballs were entitled to representation, though.1987, Daniel Lynch, A Killing Frost, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 10

   Synonyms:

   scuzzball, sleazeball, slimebag