ppl. a. [See prec. and -ED1.]
1. Worm-eaten; covered or ornamented with markings resembling those made by the gnawing of worms.
1623. Cockeram, I. Vermiculated, worme-eaten. [Hence in Blount.]
1707. Sloane, Jamaica, I. 78. The pinnæ set in the middle are largest,… having on the backside several vermiculated, ferrugineous lines, in which is the seed.
1886. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, vi. (1888), 157. The worms worked underneath … until the bark came off and exposed the stems most beautifully vermiculated.
1914. H. L. Joly, Catal. Behrens Coll., iv. 24. Bronze Koro, vermiculated design charged with dragons.
† b. Bot. Of plants or leaves: ? Presenting a worm-eaten appearance. Obs.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., Santolina, vermiculata, Cretica, Tourn[efort]. Vermiculated Lavender Cotton of Candy.
1746. Robt. James, Introd. Moufet’s Health’s Improv., 17. Those Vegetables also which contain an aromatic alcaline Oil … [include] Savory. Acrid vermiculated Houseleek. Mustard.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Santolina, The species … enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are these. 1. The common santolina with cylindric vermiculated leaves…. And 14. The Cretic santolina with vermiculated leaves.
c. Arch. Of stone-work or other surfaces so carved or molded as to present the appearance of worm-tracks.
1788. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), II. 242/1. The rustics may either be plain, hatched, or vermiculated.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 482. In different parts of the Louvre, wormy or vermiculated rustics are to be found.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1926. The rocky surface,… the vermiculated, and the punctured, are among the kinds used by the Italians.
1881. Young, Ev. Man his own Mechanic, § 1173. The caps and key-stone are frequently of stone, the latter being ‘vermiculated,’ as it is called, or indented with irregular hollows.
2. Of mosaic work: Wrought, ornamented or inlaid so as to resemble the sinuous movements or tracks of worms.
After L. (opus) vermiculatum.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Vermiculated,… embroidered, wrought with checquer work, or with small pieces of divers colours, representing sundry pictures, as we see in Tables and Counters.
1712. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), III. 311. So livelily were their Countenances describ’d in this vermiculated work.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 850/2. For Walls and Vaults:—Fictile or vermiculated; pieces of opaque glass, in small cubes, arranged so as to form complicated pictures.
3. Ornamented with sinuous or wavy lines or markings of a specified color.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 124. Our species are … white more or less evidently vermiculated with black below.
