vermigrade

English

Etymology

Coined by Irish writer Samuel Beckett. From vermi- +‎ -grade (“way of walking”).

Adjective

vermigrade (not comparable)

1. wriggling like a worm
   • 1973, Barry N. Schwartz, Human Connection and the New Media, page 170:

     My working hunch was that the very young leopard frog tadpole would make a near-perfect donor. […] While he’s little, he’ll mimp-mouth algae from the flanks of a tubifex and harm nothing but a little vermigrade pride.