Mawworm

mawworm maw-worm maw worm English Etymology The name of a character in the play The Hypocrite (1768) by Isaac Bickerstaffe; from en maw-worm. Noun en now _ rare A hypocrite. 1853 - "Editor's letter box", Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, vol.1 (new series), no.49, p.1090, 9 December 1853 That there are a sufficient number of Mawworms and Cantwells in the profession, is abundantly proved by the number of signatures obtained to the petition against opening the Crystal Palace on Sundays. en 15 March 1862 Punch 103 https://books.google.com/books?id=e-ZbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=true Military mawwormism So, according to this Mawworm, it is not the play itself but its being acted publicly that is so pernicious. I I II 30 He felt that he had chosen the one who was in all respects the superior; and a man naturally likes to look forward to having the best. He would be the very Mawworm of bachelors who pretended not to expect it. en 12 December 1986 The Ottawa Citizen E8 Troublemakers come in splendid variety - from the catamaran, or quarrelsome scold, to the solopsist, or self-absorbed, self-referential me addict; from the blateroon, or compulsive chatterbox, to the mawworm, or pious, mealy-mouthed hypocrite. Derived terms en mawwormism Related terms en maw-worm References OED online 3rd edition 2010 en eponyms