Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various large earthworms that dig deep burrows in the ground and emerge at night. They are often used as fish bait.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A terrestrial worm that burrows into and helps aerate soil; an earthworm. It often surfaces when the ground is cool or wet, and is used as bait by anglers. The term is used mostly in the northern and western U. S.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An earthworm of the species Lumbricus terrestris, known for its large size and nocturnal surfacings
  • noun Western US More generally, any arbitrarily large earthworm, especially those favored in angling

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun terrestrial worm that burrows into and helps aerate soil; often surfaces when the ground is cool or wet; used as bait by anglers

Etymologies

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  • In spy lingo, a talent spotter who hangs out in nightclubs, bars and other seedy places, looking for government employees who can be plied with booze, drugs, sex, or blackmail into becoming spies.

    August 26, 2009