zombie worm, n.

zombie-worm
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zombie-worm_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 2021

# zombie wormnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zombie worm mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zombie worm. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### Where does the noun zombie worm come from?

Earliest known use

2000s

The earliest known use of the noun zombie worm is in the 2000s.

OED's earliest evidence for zombie worm is from 2005, in Science.

### Nearby entries

1. Zolaize, v. 1886–
2. Zollinger–Ellison syndrome, n. 1956–
3. Zöllner, n. 1890–
4. zollverein, n. 1843–
5. zolotnik, n. 1783–
6. zombie, n. 1788–
7. zombie apocalypse, n. 1982–
8. zombied, adj. 1972–
9. zombie-esque, adj. 1946–
10. zombie-like, adj. & adv. 1932–
11. zombie worm, n.2005–
12. zombification, n. 1968–
13. zombified, adj. 1965–
14. zombify, v. 1950–
15. zombocalypse, n. 2007–
16. zomboid, adj. 1963–
17. zom-com, n. 2004–
18. zomotherapeutic, adj. 1900–
19. zomotherapy, n. 1900–
20. zona, n. 1706–
21. zona ignea, n. 1818–

## Meaning & use

1. 2005–
   Any of various marine (chiefly deep-sea) polychaete worms which comprise the genus Osedax and live on the bones of dead whales (and possibly other marine vertebrates).
   1. 2005

      > A strange assortment of creatures then colonized the bones.., including several new species of the bone-eating zombie worm.

      Science 25 February 1191/2
   2. 2015

      > Scientists found that Osedax—popularised as the ‘zombie worm’—originated at least 100 million years ago, and subsisted on the bones of prehistoric reptiles.

      Belfast Telegraph Online (Nexis) 15 April

Originally published as part of the entry for zombie, n.

zombie worm, n. was first published in 2021.