vermiculation

noun

1. (countable, obsolete, rare, uncountable)The process of being turned into a worm.

   “But yet the queſtion would be, whether Flyes are not immediately generated of putrefaction, and not thoſe of worms. For experience witneſſeth that there are a certain kinde of Flies which are begotten in the back of the Elm, Turpentine-tree, Wormwood, and ſo perchance in other herbs and plants, without any preceding vermiculation, or being turned into little worms firſt.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The state of being infested or consumed by worms.

   “The violent and voyeuristic imagery of the transi tombs, particularly in the horrific detailing of vermiculation, had a ghoulish counterpart in the 'grim coupling', the 'shaking of the sheets' of the danse macabre[…].”

   “The sermon rehearses [John] Donne's phobic obsession with putrefaction, vermiculation, dissolution, and dispersal.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A pattern of irregular wavy lines resembling worms or their casts or tracks, found on the plumage of birds, used to decorate artworks and buildings, etc.

   “74 ter A.—Scops gymnopodus. Gr. […] [F]eathers of the crown varied with blackish mesial streaks; the cross vermiculations being also rather coarser than on the back, all with concealed tawny buff bases, but very few with any indications of a subterminal buff bar, so that the general appearance of the head is very uniform; […]”

   “As a matter of fact its narrow ornate façade presented not a single quiet space that the eyes might rest on after a tiring attempt to follow and codify the arabesques, foliations, and intricate vermiculations of what some disrespectfully dubbed as "near-aissance."”

   “The new building at the château of Joigny (begun 1569) has some interesting bits of classical composition very sober for the time. […] The outer gatehouse […] added by [Gaspard II de] Coligny to his château of Tanlay (1570) is an excellently proportioned building with effective use of rustication to give strength to the basement, the blocks being treated with patterns of anchors, waves, and ropes in lieu of vermiculation and in allusion to the owner's office of admiral.”

   “The design consists of repeated squares, each bisected by diagonals that form triangles filled with vermiculation (Pl[ate] 11, reveal pattern d). Design 2, in windows [18 and 30], has a ground similar to Design 1, but the stripes are overlaid with a continuous scroll pattern filled with vermiculation in umber line (Pl. 11, reveal pattern f).”

4. (countable, dated, uncountable)Peristalsis (“wave-like contraction of the digestive tract, resembling the movement of a worm”).

   “Deficiency of vital energy, characterized as "gastrointestinal weakness," is a functional decrease of digestive absorption; i.e., insufficient secretion of peptic fluid, loss of appetite due to decrease of gastrointestinal vermiculation, […]”