galleyworm

English

Etymology

From the way this creature resembles a worm with many legs, and the way the legs resemble the oars of a ship.

Noun

galleyworm (plural galleyworms)

1. A centipede or millipede.
   • 1936, Rennie Wilbur Doane, Edwin Cooper Van Dyke, Willard Joseph Chamberlin, Forest Insects, page 212:

     The larvae are elongated and in many cases much like the more flattened millipedes or galleyworms in appearance.

   • 1972, René Maran, Batouala: A True Black Novel, page 64:

     that evil idiot, who walked slowly dragging himself along like a galleyworm.

   • 1996, Graziella Parati, Public History, Private Stories: Italian Women's Autobiography, page 85:

     Once I managed to combine something in which I had included also roach pulp and galleyworm legs.