Talk:witworm

RFV discussion: December 2023–January 2024

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witworm

obsolete nonce word Denazz (talk) 08:07, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

cited. Kiwima (talk) 23:51, 30 December 2023 (UTC)

RFV-passed This, that and the other (talk) 05:49, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

I don't see that any of the cites unambiguously support the MW 1913 definition ("One who, or that which, feeds or destroys wit.") on which we have based ours: "One who, or that which, feeds on wit (possibly destroying it)". The closest is the Fay citation. Century 1911 has "One who has developed into a wit.", which is at least as good a fit with the citations. DCDuring (talk) 13:03, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

One has to have recourse to the metaphor. "Worm" is often used in compounds with a word that indicates what it feeds on, but it is also often used to indicate what it becomes or develops into.

FWIW, I have found that Century 1911, in general, has definitions superior to those of Webster 1913. DCDuring (talk) 13:14, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

@DCDuring you make a very good point. OED has the same def as Century and further explains that the "worm" is a caterpillar emerging from its egg. I agree that we should amend the def. This, that and the other (talk) 23:53, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

I don't know that the cites support that definition very well either, but it seems better than what we've got. DCDuring (talk) 23:56, 11 January 2024 (UTC)