backworm
nounEtymology From back + worm.
1
Obsolete Synonym of filanders (“a disease of hawks”).
2
Obsolete The thread-like worm found in filanders.
- The Indian falcon is sick of the backwormAugust 1593, Walter Raleigh, letter:
- The backworm is rarely quite killed[…].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:
1 more example
- [... T]his, if any, may probably destroy that obstinate Disease of the Filander or Backworm.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: