Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Topic: COMPUTERS

Language: Old English
Origin: wyrm 'snake, worm'

worm

1 noun
     
worm1 [countable]
1 a long thin creature with no bones and no legs that lives in soil ➔ earthworm, lugworm
2 the young form of an insect, which looks like a short worm ➔ glow-worm, silkworm, woodworm
3

have worms

MI if a person or animal has worms, they have legless parasites (=small creatures that eat their food or their blood) in their body ➔ roundworm, tapeworm
4 someone who you do not like or respect
5TD a type of computer virus that can make copies of itself and destroy information on computers that are connected to each other
6

the worm turns

literary used to say that someone who normally obeys someone without complaining suddenly refuses to do this

➔ can of worms

at can2 (4)WORD FOCUS: computer WORD FOCUS: computer
people who work with computers: user, programmer, web designer, IT person, software engineer, (systems) analyst, administrator, webmaster, helpdesk, techie informal, geek disapproving informal
someone who tries to break into a computer system: hacker, cracker
things you do with your computer: start up/power up your computer
open a file or document
enter information
click on an icon
cut and paste pieces of text
copy files or programs
scroll up and down the page
delete things you do not want
download files or pictures from the Internet
burn CDs or DVDs
close a file or document
save your work
shut down your computer
computer problems: bug, virus, error, corrupted file/data, crash, wormcomputer

➔ See also computer
Definition of worm from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic COMPUTERS
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The COMPUTERS
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crack

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