snail
Americannoun
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any mollusk of the class Gastropoda, having a spirally coiled shell and a ventral muscular foot on which it slowly glides about.
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a slow or lazy person; sluggard.
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Machinery. a cam having the form of a spiral.
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Midwestern and Western U.S. a sweet roll in spiral form, especially a cinnamon roll or piece of Danish pastry.
noun
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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 )
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any other gastropod with a spirally coiled shell, such as a whelk
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a slow-moving or lazy person or animal
Other Word Forms
- snail-like adjective
- snaillike adjective
Etymology
Origin of snail
before 900; Middle English snail, snayl ( e ), Old English snegel; cognate with Low German snagel, German (dial.) Schnegel
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.
Part of what’s appealing about snail mail, she said, is remembering that “it’s really nice to devote your entire attention to something.”
I turned up leaves and dug a bit in the dirt, but I didn’t find so much as a snail.
From Literature
"If there were two snails going up a wall, he'd be betting on his one going up first," his grandmother Muriel told Ski Sunday.
From BBC
I’m not confident in her ability to sing French songs about snails.
From Literature
They moved along at a snail's pace, the mud dragging at their boots.
From Literature
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.
