stoor worm
stoor worm noun: a giant sea serpent or sea dragon in Orcadian folklore, which had putrid breath, probably an Orkney version of Jörmungandr.
Noun (1)
stoor worm (plural stoor worms)
- A giant sea serpent or sea dragon in Orcadian folklore, which had putrid breath, probably an Orkney version of Jörmungandr.
- But with regard to the Stoor Worms (which I have oftener heard called Sea Worms by the Norwegians), those who totally discredited the existence of the Kraakens told told me, they believed them really to exist: […]1771, Philosophical Transactions, Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies, and Labours of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World, page 41
- Madness, like a Stoor Worm, moved continuously under their feet, making every step they took full of terror. Phelim peered at each face, but could see no one who resembled his dimly remembered father. Besides, it was difficult: […]2000, Geraldine McCaughrean, The Stones are Hatching, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 181
Noun (2) capitalized: Stoor Worm
Stoor Worm (plural Stoor Worms)
- Alternative letter-case form of stoor worm.
Examples of stoor worm in a sentence
- The Muckle Mester Stoor Worm was the father of all the terrible stoor worms that lived in the sea - huge sea monsters that destroyed ships and breathed poison over the land.2003, Donald Omand, The Orkney Book, Birlinn Publishers:
- Now, I don't suppose that you are familiar with the internal plumbing of a stoor worm, so I had better explain.2014, Tom Muir, Orkney Folk Tales, The History Press, →ISBN:
Forms of stoor worm
| plural | stoor worms |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Stoor Worm |
| alternative form | stoorworm |
| plural | Stoor Worms |
Origin of stoor worm
The first element may be stoor, stour (“large, stout”) (cognate to Old Norse stórr), or it may be from Old Norse Storðar-gandr (literally “world-monster”), an alternative name for Jörmungandr, from poetic use of storð to mean "earth", whence storðar men, "earth's necklace", i.e. "sea" (storð more often meant "wood" and storðar-gandr more often meant "wood's bane" i.e. "fire"). The second element is worm (“sea-dragon”).
Questions about stoor worm
- What does stoor worm mean?
- Stoor worm means a giant sea serpent or sea dragon in Orcadian folklore, which had putrid breath, probably an Orkney version of Jörmungandr.
- How do you use stoor worm in a sentence?
- The Muckle Mester Stoor Worm was the father of all the terrible stoor worms that lived in the sea - huge sea monsters that destroyed ships and breathed poison over the land.
- What part of speech is stoor worm?
- Stoor worm is a noun.
- What is the plural of stoor worm?
- The plural of stoor worm is stoor worms.
Words near stoor worm in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stoor worm (page history and authors); Stoor Worm (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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Cite this entry: “stoor worm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stoor_worm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.