a. [f. mod.L. vermivor-us worm-eating + -OUS. Cf. F. vermivore, Sp. and Pg. vermivoro.] Feeding on worms, grubs or insect vermin; said esp. of certain birds.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Vermivorous, are such Animals, as Feed upon Worms.
1828–32. Webster, s.v. Vermivorous birds are very useful to the farmer.
1861. H. Macmillan, Footnotes fr. Page Nat., 172. Guano, the product of those vermivorous shore-birds which inhabit the desolate islands of the South Seas.
1870. Gillmore, trans. Figuier’s Reptiles & Birds, 344. They [sc. the Pressirostres] are mostly vermivorous; some, however, are granivorous or herbivorous.
Hence Vermivorousness, ‘a worm-devouring nature’ (Bailey, 1730).
