Meanings
plural tagworms
- historicalfishingA specific type of maggot or grub used as natural bait for catching fish, particularly trout.
The lug is a worm resembling the tagworm or angletouch, and lying in the ooze somewhat deep from whence the women dig them up and sell them to the fishermen [...]
1953, F.E. Halliday, Richard Carew of Antony, The Survey of Cornwall, page 1191 more example
The Little Gilt Tail or Tag Worm is of a pale yellow towards the tail, and shorter than the dunghill red worm, but knotted like it. He is commonly found among old horse dung…
1766, Unattributed, “The Art of Angling”, in The Universal Angler, Or, That Art Improved in All Its Parts, Especially in Fly-fishing Describing the Several Sorts of Fresh-water Fish, with Their Proper Baits, page 148
Origin
According to The Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest evidence for tag-worm is from 1602, in the writing of Richard Carew, antiquary and poet.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tagworm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tagworm
“tagworm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tagworm. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tagworm,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tagworm.
Source: tagworm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.