snail
Americannoun
-
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.
noun
-
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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of snail
before 900; Middle English snail, snayl ( e ), Old English snegel; cognate with Low German snagel, German (dial.) Schnegel
Explanation
A snail is a small mollusk with a spiral-shaped shell. Snails are famous for moving very slowly, and for leaving a trail of slime behind them. If you see snails on a restaurant menu, they're more likely to be listed as escargot, or "edible snail" in French. There are three general categories of snails: land snails, sea snails, and freshwater snails. They all have shells that they can retreat within—without a shell, a similar animal is instead called a slug. Snail can be traced back to the diminutive form of the Old English snaca, "snake" or "creeping thing."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That crowd doesn’t go in for snail mail — although Gary the Snail might.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2025
Best Motion Picture – Animated "Flow" "Inside Out 2" "Memoir of a Snail" "Moana 2" "Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl" "The Wild Robot"
From Salon • Jan. 6, 2025
Snail mucus extract has been proven to create a protective barrier between the skin and air pollution.
From National Geographic • Jan. 8, 2024
We dressed him in his own pyjamas and read him his favourite bedtime story, The Snail And The Whale.
From BBC • Jan. 3, 2024
Snail helped him carry the body of his mother to her grave.
From "The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa" by Alexander Mccall Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
