wentletrap

[wen-tl-trap]

noun

1. any of several marine gastropods of the family Epitonii (Scalariidae), having a whitish, spiraled shell.

wentletrap

/ ˈwɛntəlˌtræp /

noun

1. any marine gastropod mollusc of the family Epitoniidae, having a long pointed pale-coloured longitudinally ridged shell

Word History and Origins

Origin of wentletrap¹

1750–60; < Dutch wenteltrap, earlier wendeltrap spiral staircase, equivalent to wend ( en ) to turn + frequentative -el- (compare wentelen to revolve) + trap trap ¹ )

Word History and Origins

Origin of wentletrap¹

C18: from Dutch winteltrap spiral shell, from wintel, earlier windel, from wenden to wind + trap a step, stairs

Example Sentences

Painters depicted shells, with names as wonderful as “precious wentletrap” and “speckled episcopal miter,” arrayed on banquet tables or in the hands of exulting deities.

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Churchill and colleagues suspect the snails' evolution may have gone like this: From time to time, bottom-dwelling wentletrap ancestors accidentally trapped small bubbles in their egg nets, and then floated to the surface until those bubbles popped.

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Because those high waters abounded in edible jellyfish, some wentletrap ancestors began to capitalize on making more bubbles, eventually floating exclusively.

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It was a Wentletrap on which the little red eyes of Mr. Endymion Scraper were fixed at this moment.

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Has any of my readers seen a Precious Wentletrap?

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