Adjacent Words

Snail definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SNAIL, n.
1. A slimy slow creeping animal, of the genus Helix, and order of Mollusca. The eyes of this insect are in the horns, one at the end of each, which it can retract at pleasure.
2. A drone; a slow moving person.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: freshwater or marine or terrestrial gastropod mollusk usually having an external enclosing spiral shell
2: edible terrestrial snail usually served in the shell with a sauce of melted butter and garlic [syn: escargot, snail] v
1: gather snails; "We went snailing in the summer"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English snægl; akin to Old High German snecko snail, snahhan to creep Date: before 12th century 1. a gastropod mollusk especially when having an external enclosing spiral shell 2. a slow-moving or sluggish person or thing • snaillike adjective II. intransitive verb Date: 1582 to move, act, or go slowly or lazily

Britannica Concise

Any species of gastropod that glides along on a broad tapered foot and has a high coiled shell into which it can withdraw. Snails are found in the ocean, in fresh waters, and on land. Most marine snails have gills in the mantle cavity (see mollusk). Most land and freshwater snails have no gills; they use the mantle cavity itself as a lung. Snails may be either scavengers (of dead plant or animal matter) or predators. Some species are used as food, and the shells of some are used as ornaments. See also limpet, periwinkle, slug, whelk.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any slow-moving gastropod mollusc with a spiral shell able to enclose the whole body. Phrases and idioms: snail's pace a very slow movement. Derivatives: snail-like adj. Etymology: OE snæg(e)l f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Snail Snail (sn[=a]l), n. [OE. snaile, AS. sn[ae]gel, snegel, sn[ae]gl; akin to G. schnecke, OHG. snecko, Dan. snegl, Icel. snigill.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) (a) Any one of numerous species of terrestrial air-breathing gastropods belonging to the genus Helix and many allied genera of the family Helicid[ae]. They are abundant in nearly all parts of the world except the arctic regions, and feed almost entirely on vegetation; a land snail. (b) Any gastropod having a general resemblance to the true snails, including fresh-water and marine species. See Pond snail, under Pond, and Sea snail. 2. Hence, a drone; a slow-moving person or thing. 3. (Mech.) A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock. 4. A tortoise; in ancient warfare, a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers; a testudo. [Obs.] They had also all manner of gynes [engines] . . . that needful is [in] taking or sieging of castle or of city, as snails, that was naught else but hollow pavises and targets, under the which men, when they fought, were heled [protected], . . . as the snail is in his house; therefore they cleped them snails. --Vegetius (Trans.). 5. (Bot.) The pod of the sanil clover. Ear snail, Edible snail, Pond snail, etc. See under Ear, Edible, etc. Snail borer (Zo["o]l.), a boring univalve mollusk; a drill. Snail clover (Bot.), a cloverlike plant (Medicago scuttellata, also, M. Helix); -- so named from its pods, which resemble the shells of snails; -- called also snail trefoil, snail medic, and beehive. Snail flower (Bot.), a leguminous plant (Phaseolus Caracalla) having the keel of the carolla spirally coiled like a snail shell. Snail shell (Zo["o]l.), the shell of snail. Snail trefoil. (Bot.) See Snail clover, above.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(snails) 1. A snail is a small animal with a long, soft body, no legs, and a spiral-shaped shell. Snails move very slowly. N-COUNT 2. If you say that someone does something at a snail's pace, you are emphasizing that they are doing it very slowly, usually when you think it would be better if they did it much more quickly. The train was moving now at a snail's pace... PHRASE: PHR after v [emphasis]

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Heb. homit, among the unclean creeping things (Lev. 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula.

(2.) Heb. shablul (Ps. 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. "We find," he says, "in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, 'melted away.'"

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

snal

((1) chomeT, the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard," Septuagint saura, "lizard" (Le 11:30);

(2) shabbelul, Septuagint keros, "wax" (Ps 58:8)):

(1) ChomeT is 7th in the list of unclean "creeping things" in Le 11:30, and occurs nowhere else. "Snail" is not warranted by Septuagint or Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) the Revised Version (British and American) has "sand-lizard." It may be the skink or a species of Lacerta. See LIZARD.

(2) Shabbelul is translated "snail" in Ps 58:8: "Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away." Mandelkern gives limax, "slug."

Gesenius derives shabbelul from balal, "to pour"; compare Arabic balla, "to wet," instancing leimax, "snail," or "slug," from leibo, "to pour." While Septuagint has keros, "wax," Talmud (Mo`edh QaTan 6b) supports "snail." The ordinary explanation of the passage, which is not very satisfying, is that the snail leaves a trail of mucus (i.e. it melts) as it moves along. This does not in any way cause the snail to waste away, because its glands are continually manufacturing fresh mucous. Two large species of snail, Helix aspersa and Helix pomatia, are collected and eaten, boiled, by the Christians of Syria and Palestine, especially in Lent. The Jews and Moslems declare them to be unclean and do not eat them.

Alfred Ely Day

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Slug. 2. Drone, idler, sluggard, laggard, slug. 3. Snail-clover, snail-trefoil (Medicago scutellata).

Moby Thesaurus

Chilopoda, Chordata, Dungeness crab, Echiuroidea, Ectoprocta, Entoprocta, Japanese crab, Monoplacophora, Nemertinea, Phoronidea, blue point, clam, coquillage, crab, crawdad, crawfish, crayfish, dawdle, dawdler, drone, foot-dragger, goldbrick, goof-off, laggard, langouste, lie-abed, limpet, lingerer, littleneck clam, lobster, loiterer, mussel, oyster, periwinkle, plodder, prawn, procrastinator, quahog, scallop, shellfish, shrimp, sleepyhead, slow goer, slow-foot, slowbelly, slowpoke, slug, sluggard, soft-shell crab, steamer, stick-in-the-mud, tortoise, whelk