ear-worm

plural ear-worms

1. alternativeAlternative form of earworm.

   Earwig, [...] The ear-worm or grub, a well-known insect, with large transparent wings, which eats fruit and flower-leaves, and has been erroneously supposed to creep into the human brain through the ear; [...]

   1865, John Ogilvie, “Earwig”, in The Student’s English Dictionary, Etymological, Pronouncing, & Explanatory: […], London; Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, […], →OCLC, page 270, column 2

   2 more examples

   Foreign Bodies in the Ear. [...] The ear-worm (forficula auricula), so much dreaded by people, occasions no special danger, but behaves in the ear in as harmless a manner as all other living animalcula of that calibre.

   1870, Alfred Vogel, translated by H. Raphael, A Practical Treatise of the Diseases of Children. […], New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […], →OCLC, page 435

   She does not regard her ear-worms as anything other than an incidental irritant in her life. Unlike Jane, I have an ear-worm all the time – literally all the time – from the moment I wake up to the moment I zonk out; [...]

   2012, Nick Coleman, chapter 22, in The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss, Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint, published 2013, →ISBN, page 236