Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vermin

Vermin , noun, singular and plural

[Old English vermine, French vermine, from Latin vermis a worm; compare Late Latin vermen a worm, Latin verminosus full of worms. See Vermicular, Worm.]

1.
An animal, in general. [Obsolete]
Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and vermin, and worms, and fowls. — Acts x. 12. (Geneva Bible)
This crocodile is a mischievous fourfooted beast, a dangerous vermin, used to both elements. — Holland
2.
A noxious or mischievous animal; especially, noxious little animals or insects, collectively, as squirrels, rats, mice, worms, flies, lice, bugs, etc.
Cruel hounds or some foul vermin. — Chaucer
Great injuries these vermin, mice and rats, do in the field. — Mortimer
They disdain such vermin when the mighty boar of the forest... is before them. — Burke
3.
Hence, in contempt, noxious human beings.
You are my prisoners, base vermin. — Hudibras