DCHP-1 Online

ice-worm

• 1 n. a mythical creature born as a practical joke in the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush.

  • Although the evidence given here for ice-worm refers to an imaginary creature, the term also refers to a worm of the Oligochaeta family, Mesenchytraeus solifugus, found on mountain snow and ice fields, which almost certainly was not identified when the term appeared in the Klondike Nugget and the writings of Robert W. Service.

  • 1901  As usual the doctor had with him his medicine case, likewise a bottle of fluid extract of rye, for in a country where ice worms abound there is no telling but that deadly serpents may also be found.
  • 1910  Nothing like ice-worm oil for salads.
  • 1953  I think they have a theory that after a certain number of years in the North without a break a man's apt to get bitten by the ice worms.
  • 1964  The Klondike ice worm, immortalized in Robert Service's The Ice Worm Cocktail, has been imported to Edmonton. Royal Canadian Legion insiders report the Kingsway branch will feature the Service beverage with prime adult worms brought "directly from the Arctic (Their suspicious macaroni flavor undermines the Klondike romance element somewhat.)"

• 2 n. in the phrase when the ice-worms nest again, popularized by Robert W. Service, 1876-1958, and sometimes used as a farewell in the North.

  • 1910  Oh, my Heart, my Life, my Soul,/ I will meet thee when the ice-worms nest again.
  • 1948  We shook hands, and said, each to each other: "I'll be seeing you, when the ice worms nest again."
  • 1958  A visitor may find himself . . . singing "When the Ice-Worms Nest Again," a song introduced during the 1949 festival.