blindworm

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun small burrowing legless European lizard with tiny eyes; popularly believed to be blind
noun any of the small slender limbless burrowing wormlike amphibians of the order Gymnophiona; inhabit moist soil in tropical regions

Inherited from Middle English blynde worme, equivalent to blind + worm due to its very small eyes. Cognate with Swedish blindorm, blindödla.

The knot-grass fettered there the hand Which once could burst an iron band; Beneath the broad and ample bone, That bucklered heart to fear unknown, A feeble and a timorous guest, The fieldfare framed her lowly nest; There the slow blindworm left his slime On the fleet limbs that mocked at time; And there, too, lay the leader's skull Still wreathed with chaplet, flushed and full, For heath-bell with her purple bloom Supplied the bonnet and the plume. — The Lady of the Lake, Walter Scott

slowworm, Anguis fragilis

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