Where does the word "bookworm" come from?

Answer by  mammakat (11147)

In old musty libraries books were often infested with pests whose larvae fed on the paper and glue in the binding. Since it spent its life living on the books, this became a term for people dedicated to burying their nose in a book. This term is found as early as the 1500's.

Answer by  lwarlick (121)

The glue binding in books attracts a kind of worm. It eats the glue then starts on the pages. A bookworm came to mean anyone or thing attracted to books.