wormhole
nounverbattested in dialogue
- United States//ˈwɝmˌhoʊl//
A hole burrowed by a worm.
noun
- 1
A hole burrowed by a worm.
To fill with worme-holes stately monuments.
But he had no sooner got through the worm-hole, than the lad put a small peg in the hole.
- 2
A hypothetical shortcut between two points in spacetime, permitting faster-than-light travel and sometimes time travel.
[…]where there is a net flux of lines of force, through what topologists would call "a handle" of the multiply-connected space, and what physicists might perhaps be excused for more vividly terming a "wormhole".
Wormhole distortion has overloaded main power systems!
I think the wormhole that we used to travel here passed directly through this planet's sun.
- 3
slangA location in a monitor program containing the address of a routine, allowing the user to substitute different functionality.
Etymology
First use appears c. 1594. From worm + hole. In the scientific sense, introduced by John Archibald Wheeler in 1957.
verb
- 1
To make porous or permeable through the formation of small holes or tunnels.
Forms
- plural
- wormholes
- past tense
- wormholed
- past participle
- wormholed
- present participle
- wormholing
- third person singular
- wormholes