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Glowworm   Listen
noun
Glowworm  n.  (Zool.) A coleopterous insect of the genus Lampyris; esp., the wingless females and larvae of the two European species (L. noctiluca, and L. splendidula), which emit light from some of the abdominal segments. "Like a glowworm in the night, The which hath fire in darkness, none in light." Note: The male is winged, and is supposed to be attracted by the light of the female. In America, the luminous larvae of several species of fireflies and fire beetles are called glowworms. Both sexes of these are winged when mature. See Firefly.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Glowworm" Quotes from Famous Books



... meadowsweet that grew thick upon the banks; now, as he recalled the cadence and the phrase that had seemed so charming, he saw again the ferns beneath the vaulted roots of the beech, and the green light of the glowworm ...
— The Hill of Dreams • Arthur Machen

... North, farewell! The hills grow dark, On purple peaks a deeper shade descending; In twilight copse the glowworm lights her spark, The deer, half seen, are to the covert wending. 845 Resume thy wizard elm! the fountain lending, And the wild breeze, thy wilder minstrelsy; Thy slumbers sweet with Nature's vespers blending, With distant echo from the fold and lea, ...
— Lady of the Lake • Sir Walter Scott

... the dead soul left the waters and buried himself beneath the earth, to hide in dark caves where neither light nor sound could go. But a glowworm that lived in the cave made it all too bright. By its lantern he saw the hidden mysterious forces working. Through tiny paths warmth and nourishment ran to be near the surface that baby seeds might germinate, live and flourish for man's ...
— The City and the World and Other Stories • Francis Clement Kelley

... a glowworm glows at night, or when the head of a match glows as you rub it on your wet hand in the dark, we call the light phosphorescence. The name "phosphorus" means light-bearing, and anything like the element phosphorus, that glows without actively burning, ...
— Common Science • Carleton W. Washburne

... nothing at all—one of drift and the other new wood, for he did not buy all new wood—the save-penny made a fuss! His wood? 'I burned all your wood,' said I, 'to save your furniture from the damp; otherwise mushrooms would have sprung up on your embroidered cap, and on your glowworm robe de chambre that you wore so often while you were waiting for the little lady who ...
— The Mysteries of Paris V2 • Eugene Sue

... a coward with my lips Who dare to question all things in my soul; Some men may find their wisdom on their knees, Some prone and grovelling in the dust like slaves; Let the meek glowworm glisten in the dew; I ask to lift my taper to the sky As they who hold their lamps above their heads, Trusting the larger currents up aloft, Rather than crossing eddies round their breast, Threatening with ...
— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.



Words linked to "Glowworm" :   lightning bug, firefly



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