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Great Worm, the

Great Worm, the: n. The 1988 Internet worm perpetrated by
   RTM.  This is a play on Tolkien (compare elvish,
   elder days).  In the fantasy history of his Middle Earth
   books, there were dragons powerful enough to lay waste to entire
   regions; two of these (Scatha and Glaurung) were known as "the
   Great Worms".  This usage expresses the connotation that the RTM
   hack was a sort of devastating watershed event in hackish history;
   certainly it did more to make non-hackers nervous about the
   Internet than anything before or since.