Wormcast

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The substance produced by earthworms from digested organic material enhances soil quality and promotes fertility for plant growth
2. This material, derived from the digestion of organic matter by worms, serves to enrich and aerate the soil in which it is found
3. A natural deposit created by earthworms through digestion, improving soil structure and nutrient content

Etymology: "Wormcast" is a plain compound: "worm" plus "cast," with "cast" in its older sense of something thrown or shed out. The name describes exactly what the heap is, the material an earthworm has cast out of its body after passing soil through its gut. The "cast" here is the same sense found in words such as "casting" for a fish's shed skin or a snake's cast-off skin, both of which are things that have been thrown off or discarded. A wormcast is therefore literally the soil a worm has ejected, a small coil or pile of earth left on the surface of a lawn or garden.

Synonyms: castings