Word Study
gordius
CIDE DICTIONARY
gordius, n. [NL. See Gordian, 1.].
A genus of long, slender, nematoid worms, parasitic in insects until near maturity, when they leave the insect, and live in water, in which they deposit their eggs; -- called also hair eel , hairworm , and hair snake , from the absurd, but common and widely diffused, notion that they are metamorphosed horsehairs. [1913 Webster]
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