Wormhole

WORD OF THE DAY

WORMHOLE \ WERM-hohl \ noun


Definition
1 : a hole or passage burrowed by a worm


2 : a hypothetical structure of space-time envisioned as a long thin tunnel connecting points that are separated in space and time


ExamplesSome science fiction writers speculate that wormholes will become the intergalactic highways of the future.

"Sci-fi fans who hope humanity can one day zoom to distant corners of the universe via wormholes, as astronauts do in the recent film 'Interstellar,' shouldn't hold their breath."
— Mike Wall, Space.com, 24 Nov. 2014


Did You Know?
If you associate wormhole with quantum physics and sci-fi, you'll probably be surprised to learn that the word has been around since Shakespeare's day—although, admittedly, he used it more literally than most modern writers. To Shakespeare, a wormhole was simply a hole made by a worm, a more down-to-earth sense which is still used today.
But even the Bard subtly linked wormholes to the passage of time; for example, in The Rape of Lucrece, he notes time's destructive power "to fill with worm-holes stately monuments." To modern astrophysicists, a wormhole isn't a tunnel wrought by a slimy invertebrate but a theoretical tunnel between two black holes or other points in space-time, providing a shortcut between its end points