earworm

ˈɪəwɜːm

3 definitions

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#1·5h ago

A tune that keeps replaying in one's head or that one keeps thinking about, especially if unwanted.

The chorus [of "[[w:Meeting in the Ladies Room (song)

Origin: From ; senses 1 and 3 (“tune that keeps replaying in one’s head”; “earwig”) are a (from the idea of a creature burrowing into the ear, an erroneous belief where earwigs are concerned), while sense 2 (“moth larva”) refers to the fact that these pests infest, among other things, ears of maize or sweet corn. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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#2·5h ago

(originally, US) (“larva of the moths (syn. ) and , which are agricultural pests”).

"It's been haunting me," she said. / "Yeah, well," he said, weakly. "Sometimes tunes do that." [...] "I don't mean that I heard it once before and caught an earworm. [...]"

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#3·5h ago

(archaic) An order]] Dermaptera.

My Mom has a special gift—or curse—depending on how you look at it. She suffers from ear worms. That's when you have songs runnin' around in your head and can't shut them off. All day long, at the ranch, Mom would go about her work, sing…

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