worm gear.

1. A gear arrangement in which a screw-like worm engages a mating toothed wheel, commonly between angled axes.

2. A toothed wheel designed to mesh with a screw-like worm.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• a worm-gear drive
• a worm wheel

On the page

The worm-gear drive moved the dish slowly despite the faster motor.

He checked the worm wheel for wear near the most heavily used position.

Usage notes

Primary category: sci-fi. Forms: Singular worm gear; plural worm gears. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.