Bookworm

Description

A common name used for any of several hundred insects that feed on books. Examples of bookworm insects are booklice, Silverfish, Powderpost beetle, Spider beetle, Common furniture beetle, Mexican book beetle, Paper worm, and Larder beetle. Infestations of any of these insects can cause extensive damage to books and wooden shelves in a library.

Synonyms and Related Terms

book worm

Sources Checked for Data in Record

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998