Crossword clues for shipworm
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Teredo \Te*re"do\, n.; pl. E. Teredos, L. Teredines. [L., a worm that gnaws wood, clothes, etc.; akin to Gr. ?, L. terere to rub.] (Zo["o]l.) A genus of long, slender, wormlike bivalve mollusks which bore into submerged wood, such as the piles of wharves, bottoms of ships, etc.; -- called also shipworm. See Shipworm. See Illust. in Appendix.
Wiktionary
n. Any of several wormlike marine mollusks (not true worms) of the family ''(taxlink Teredinidae family noshow=1)'', that bore through the wooden hulls of ships and other woody material immersed in salt water.
WordNet
n. wormlike marine bivalve that bores into wooden piers and ships by means of drill-like shells [syn: teredinid]
Usage examples of "shipworm".
His boots trod again a damp crackling mast, razorshells, squeaking pebbles, that on the unnumbered pebbles beats, wood sieved by the shipworm, lost Armada.
First they scraped away the heavy infestation of weed and treated the shipworm that had already taken nrm hold in the hulls.
They took the opportunity to scrape the weed from her hull, recaulk her joints and renew the copper sheeting that kept the shipworm from attacking her underwater timber.
But the voyages still continue, aimlessly, with no harbour in sight, because there are currents under the ocean and so the dead ships with their skeleton crews sail on around the world, over sunken cities and between drowned mountains, until rot and shipworms eat them away and they disintegrate.
It appeared to be pretty old, and probably already infested with shipworms, the termites of the sea.
But the shipworms have chewed it so bad that most of the piles are three quarters eaten through.
There would be a need for lodgings on shore while the Resolution was careened on the beach, her hull cleaned of weed and examined for any sign of shipworm.
He explored the Central American coast and was marooned for a year in Jamaica because his wooden vessels had been thoroughly rotted by shipworm.