See Also: vermin(medicine)
vermin(dictionary)
vermin(dictionary)

vermin (iou)



vermin noun. ME.
[Old French, ult. from Latin vermis worm. See also VARMINT noun1.]
collect. Orig., reptiles, snakes, or other animals regarded as harmful or objectionable. Now spec. (a) mammals or birds injurious to game, crops, etc.; (b) harmful insects, worms, etc., esp. those which infest or are parasitic on people, animals, and plants. ME.
C. Darwin The stock of..grouse..on any large estate depends chiefly on the destruction of vermin. C. Stead Sam has cyanide..that's what they kill vermin with. E. Jong Rats scurried nearby and Vermin crawl'd.
a. A kind or class of animals or insects regarded as verminous. LME.
A. Tucker Diseases..proceeding from an imperceptible vermin swarming within us. A. Eden Rats..in the trenches..this being our first experience of these vermin.
b. An animal or insect of this kind. LME-E19.
Sir W. Scott Each sly vermin..That baulks the snare, yet battens on the cheese.
collect. Vile, objectionable, or despicable people. M16.
b. An individual of this type. L16.
vermined adjective (rare) infested with vermin M19.
verminer noun (rare) a destroyer of vermin E17.
ver'minicide noun a preparation for killing parasites E20.