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worm

worm
 n.— «In one-day cricket parlance, the services “worm” in Figure 1, which had till then hugged the industry “worm”, surges up and away after 1996/97.» —“Shankar Acharya: If Growth were Slower…?” by Shankar Acharya in New Delhi Business Standard (India) Dec. 28, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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  • While listening to the cricket on the radio the other day, I heard the commentator say “The English [cricketers] are keeping their worm up”.
    The worm refers to a graph showing the run-rate (number of runs scored per over, where an over is six balls bowled (pitched)).
    Continuing at a constant rate will result in a “flat worm”, but there’s normally an increase in scoring rate near the end of the innings, so the worm creeps up.

    The term is also used when a studio audience is asked to reflect their opinions of a political debate in real time. The worm can move towards one candidate or the other depending on the audience’s net impressions of their performance.

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