Etymology

even a worm will turn

Today it means: Even the meekest or most docile people will retaliate or seek revenge if pushed too far. Full definition →

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The story

First attested in a collection of proverbs by John Heywood in 1546, in the form “Treade a worme on the tayle, and it must turne agayne.” Popularized by William Shakespeare in The Third Part of Henry the Sixth, see quotations.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.