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.

• 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.