shipworm

noun ship·worm \ ˈship-ˌwərm \

Updated on: 8 Mar 2018

Definition of shipworm

: any of various marine clams (especially family Teredinidae) that have a shell used for burrowing in submerged wood and a wormlike body and that cause damage to wharf piles and wooden ships

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Recent Examples of shipworm from the Web

Deep-sea wood borers (Xylophaga, a genus of bivalve mollusks) take over where shallow water gribbles and shipworms left off.

— brian payton, Smithsonian, "How Driftwood Reshapes Ecosystems," 9 Feb. 2018
The giant is quite different from another, smaller species of shipworm, a type of clam that burrows into wood, including the wood of ships.

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "After Centuries of Searching, Scientists Finally Find the Mysterious Giant Shipworm Alive," 19 Apr. 2017
Unlike other shipworms, Kuphus burrows into mud rather than wood.

— alan burdick, The New Yorker, "The Loch Ness Monster of Mollusks," 21 Apr. 2017
Most shipworms are sort of beige, or whitish, maybe slightly pinkish.

— alan burdick, The New Yorker, "The Loch Ness Monster of Mollusks," 21 Apr. 2017
The giant shipworm bores through wooden boats, wrecking them and serving as a regular pest.

— sammy nickalls, Esquire, "This Petrifying Five-Foot-Long Shipworm Is Nasty as Hell," 17 Apr. 2017
Between 1919 and 1921, the naval shipworm destroyed nearly every wharf, pier, and ferry slip in San Francisco Bay.

— alan burdick, The New Yorker, "The Loch Ness Monster of Mollusks," 21 Apr. 2017
Behold, the giant shipworm, your newest living nightmare.

— joanna klein, New York Times, "This Is a Giant Shipworm. You May Wish It Had Stayed In Its Tube.," 18 Apr. 2017
Haygood recalls, until a shipworm the size of a baseball bat lay on the table.

— carrie arnold, National Geographic, "Watch: Bizarre Deep-Sea 'Worm' As Long As an Arm Revealed," 17 Apr. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shipworm.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.