Also 4 vermycle. [ad. L. vermiculus little worm; also (late L.) scarlet color. Cf. VERMICULE and VERMEIL.]
† 1. = VERMILION sb. 3 a. Obs. rare.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxxviii. 23. A worcher with nedlis, of iacynct, and purpur, reed clooth [altered from vermycle], and bijs. Ibid., xxxix. 1.
2. Biol. A small worm or grub; a vermicule.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., 392. A certain insect, or fly or vermicle.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 426. A little Vermicle, as small as a Mite. Ibid. (1746), XLIV. 353. The Vermicles [of Ants] … in a few Days infold themselves in a soft silken kind of Tissue.
1747. Gould, Eng. Ants, 76. The next … Exercise belonging to the working Ants, is feeding the Maggots or Vermicles.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), III. 366. Vermicles or the larvæ of insects have at times been found in the open ulcer of a cancer. Ibid., V. 661. An egg, which gives rise to a minute vermicle or larve.
1880. Nature, XXI. 453. The bodies thus evolved simulate worms so closely … that Gaule styles them ‘Würmchen,’ which may be translated vermicles.
