backworm

English

Etymology

From back +‎ worm.

Noun

backworm (countable and uncountable, plural backworms) (obsolete)

  1. (uncountable) Synonym of filanders (“a disease of hawks”).
  2. (countable) The thread-like worm found in filanders.
    • August 1593, Walter Raleigh, letter‎[1]:
      The Indian falcon is sick of the backworm
    • 1735, The Sportsmen's Dictionary, London: Printed for C. Hitch, at the Red Lion, and C. Davis, both in Pater-Noster-Row; and S. Austen, at the Angel and Bible in St. Paul's Church-Yard:
      The backworm is rarely quite killed […] .
    • 1964, Thomas Browne, “Of Hawks and Falconry, ancient and modern”, in Geoffrey Keynes, editor, The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, volume 3, London: Faber and Faber, page 62:
      [... T]his, if any, may probably destroy that obstinate Disease of the Filander or Backworm.

References

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