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squirm

UK/skwɜːm/ US/skwɝm/ uncommon
verb (1) noun (1)

verb

1.

to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)

  • “The prisoner writhed in discomfort”
  • “The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt”
Synonyms

noun

1.

the act of wiggling

Synonyms

Origin

First recorded 1690's, originally used of eels; cognate with Scots squimmer (“to wriggle, squirm”). Of uncertain origin. Compare dialectal quirm, whirm (“to disappear quickly, vanish suddenly and mysteriously”), Norwegian kverva (“to turn around, take away, remove, shrink”), from Old Norse hverfa (“to turn, vanish”). Alternatively, perhaps imitative or related to worm (in the sense of writhing movement) or swarm.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.