silkworm

n. variety of moth larva that spins a cocoon made of silk fibers

The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree"), the domesticated silkmoth. A moth in the family Bombycidae, it is very important economically as the producer of silk. It is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and no longer occurs naturally in the wild. Silk culture has been practised for at least 5,000 years in China (Goldsmith et al. 2004). A silkworm's preferred food is White Mulberry leaves. It is native to northern China.
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Noun
1. hairless white caterpillar of the Chinese silkworm moth; source of most commercial silk
(hypernym) caterpillar
(member-holonym) Bombyx, genus Bombyx
(part-meronym) silk gland, serictery, sericterium
2. larva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon
(synonym) giant silkworm, wild wilkworm
(hypernym) caterpillar
(hyponym) ailanthus silkworm, Samia cynthia
(member-holonym) Saturniidae, family Saturniidae
(part-meronym) silk gland, serictery, sericterium

(n.)
The larva of any one of numerous species of bombycid moths, which spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon before changing to a pupa.
  

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.