Word.ws English Dictionary

tree worm

tree worm noun: a worm that lives in trees, feeding primarily upon woody material.

Noun

tree worm (plural tree worms)

  1. A worm that lives in trees, feeding primarily upon woody material.
    • The slimy-nosed tree worm fell off.2019, Juliet Boyd, The Goblin and a Family Tree
  2. (derogatory, figuratively) A lowly, parasitic individual; slimeball, lowlife.
    • “It's enough for me,” Knowlton said.“And if you had the brains to realize it, it would be enough for you, too.” He paused. “You Andromedan treeworm.”2005, Timothy Carter, Attack of the Intergalactic Soul Hunters, page 16
    • And how does thee think thy steppa felt, knowing yon treeworm might move on at any time, and those two come back?2012, Stephen King, The Wind Through the Keyhole

Forms of tree worm

pluraltree worms
alternative formtree-worm
alternative formtreeworm

Origin of tree worm

From Middle English tree worme, tre-worme, treworme, from Old English trēowwyrm (“tree-worm, palmerworm”), equivalent to tree + worm.

Questions about tree worm

What does tree worm mean?
Tree worm means a worm that lives in trees, feeding primarily upon woody material.
What part of speech is tree worm?
Tree worm is a noun.
What is the plural of tree worm?
The plural of tree worm is tree worms.

Words near tree worm in the dictionary

  1. tree wallabies
  2. tree wallaby
  3. tree well
  4. tree wells
  5. tree wisteria
  6. tree worm
  7. tree worms
  8. tree-and-branch
  9. tree-beard
  10. tree-branch
  11. tree-branches

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tree 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: “tree worm.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tree_worm. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.