snail
[sneyl]
- any mollusk of the class Gastropoda, having a spirally coiled shell and a ventral muscular foot on which it slowly glides about.
- a slow or lazy person; sluggard.
- Machinery. a cam having the form of a spiral.
- Midwestern and Western U.S. a sweet roll in spiral form, especially a cinnamon roll or piece of Danish pastry.
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Origin of snail
before 900; Middle English snail, snayl(e), Old English snegel; cognate with Low German snagel, German (dial.) Schnegel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for snail
Contemporary Examples
The Daily Pic: James Nares slows Manhattan's rat race to a snail's pace.
Historical Examples
I travel; but it seems to be like the snail, with my house upon my head.
P.'s Correspondence (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")Nathaniel Hawthorne
We had made the first part of our journey at a snail's pace.
In the Heart of VosgesMatilda Betham-Edwards
Cochleatus is from cochlea, a snail, from resembling its shell.
The Mushroom, Edible and OtherwiseM. E. Hard
I have eaten nothing,” replied the man, “since I ceased to be a snail.
Finally, in folk-lore the snail is an uncanny or demoniac being, because it has horns.
MemoirsCharles Godfrey Leland
snail
- any of numerous terrestrial or freshwater gastropod molluscs with a spirally coiled shell, esp any of the family Helicidae, such as Helix aspersa (garden snail)
- any other gastropod with a spirally coiled shell, such as a whelk
- a slow-moving or lazy person or animal
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Word Origin
Old English snægl; related to Old Norse snigill, Old High German snecko
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for snail
n.
Old English snægl, from Proto-Germanic *snagila (cf. Old Saxon snegil, Old Norse snigill, Danish snegl, Swedish snigel, Middle High German snegel, dialectal German Schnegel, Old High German snecko, German Schnecke "snail"), from *snog-, variant of PIE root *sneg- "to crawl, creep; creeping thing" (see snake (n.)). The word essentially is a diminutive form of Old English snaca "snake," which literally means "creeping thing." Also formerly used of slugs. Symbolic of slowness since at least c.1000; snail's pace is attested from c.1400.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper