woodworm

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Any of many beetle larvae that bore into wood.

   “1599, Simon Harward, “A Displaying of the wilfull deuises of wicked and vaine worldlings” in Three Sermons, London: Richard Johns, […] Chrisostome doth compaire enuie to the wood worm which though it doe breede in the tymber, yet it doth consume & waste the tymber, as enuie springing of the heart doth putrifie and vtterly eat vp the heart.”

   “New Alresford is constantly mispronounced, T-shaped, honeycombed with cellars, packed with antique shops, riddled with woodworm, surrounded by watercress. The name - which means 'ford by the alders' - is pronounced 'Allsford'; and no one ever uses 'New', though they do call the adjoining village Old Alresford.”

   “His father met a man who said that he had the figure from a ship which went aground near Blackwater Head. It would have to be treated for woodworm, he said.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Any of many beetle larvae that bore into wood.
3. (countable, uncountable)A shipworm, a worm-like mollusk in the family Teredinidae that feeds on wood underwater in saltwater.