Obs. Pl. vermiculi. [L., dim. of vermis worm. Cf. VERMICULE.]
1. A small worm or grub; a vermicule.
1694. W. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 12. All the Vermiculi, or Miasmata, which are the Progenerators of the Plague, or Pestilence.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Vermes, Some Authors assert,… that this Spolium is not animated, but receives its Sense and Motion from Vermiculi, or Cucurbitini inclosed in it. Ibid., s.v. Vermicular.
2. A species of marine annelid; a sea-worm.
a. 1728. Woodward, Fossils (1729), I. II. 22. A Vermiculus growing to a Piece of a Pinna Marina.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v., These shells are called vermiculi,… from the fish contained in them, which is always a sort of worm.
1776. Da Costa, Elem. Conchol., 284. A chambered Vermiculus, taken from Davila’s Catalogue.
