Old English seolcwyrm; see silk + worm (n.).

Moth caterpillar that feeds chiefly on mulberry leaves. The common domesticated Bombyx mori is raised commercially for its silk cocoon

a caterpillar that spins silk threads

cf. Silkmoth - moths of the Bombycidae and the Saturniidae families who have pupae surrounded in a silken cocoon.

If you dream of a silkworm, you will engage in a very profitable work, which will also place you in a prominent position. To see them dead, or cutting through their cocoons, is a sign of reverses and trying times.   

(n) the commercially bred hairless white caterpillar of the domestic silkworm moth which spins a cocoon that can be processed to yield silk fiber; the principal source of commercial silk(n) larva of a [..]

A genus of Silkworm Moths in the Family Bombycidae of the order Lepidoptera. The Family contains a single species, Bombyx mori from the Greek for Silkworm + Mulberry Tree (on which it feeds). A native [..]