slowworm
noun/ˈsləʊwɜː(ɹ)m/
Etymology From Middle English sloworm (possibly influenced by slow), from Old English slāwyrm (“slow-worm, blindworm”), from *slā, related to Norwegian slo (“slow-worm”), Swedish slå (“slow-worm”) + wyrm (“worm, snake”). Compare Swedish ormslå.
1
A small Old World lizard, Anguis fragilis, often mistaken for a snake, having no legs and small eyes.
- Well, sir, it may be we shall have some better orations of it anon: well, Ile watch you as narrowly as ever you were watcht, and Ile play with you as the nightingale with the slowworme;[…]c. 1588, Robert Greene, “Scene Eleventh. Frier Bacons cell.”, in The Honorable Historie of Frier Bacon and Frier Bongay: