[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

gordius \gor"dius\, n. nl. see gordian, 1. zool.
   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
see also:
gordian hair eel hairworm hair snake 

Hairworm >> H Words
Hairworm, definition of term: Hairworm
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