maltworm

English

Etymology

Noun

maltworm (plural maltworms)

A tippler; a drinker of alcohol.
- 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act III:
  […] beg my pardon, in which you ſhall not onely ſaue a proper hanſome tall fellow and a ſtout Captaine, but alſo you ſhall purchaſe the prayers of all the ale wiues in the towne, for ſauing a mault-worme and a cuſtomer to helpe away their ſtrong ale.
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:
  The fiend hath prick'd down Bardolph irrecoverable; and his face is Lucifer's privy-kitchen, where he doth nothing but roast malt-worms.

Synonyms

alcoholic, souse, suck-pint; See also Thesaurus:drunkard

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “maltworm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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