snail
Pronunciation Noun

snail (plural snails)

  1. Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
  2. (informal, by extension) A slow person; a sluggard.
  3. (engineering) 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. (military, historical) A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.
    • (in translation)
      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] […]
  5. The pod of the snail clover.
Synonyms Translations Translations Verb

snail (snails, present participle snailing; past and past participle snailed)

  1. To move or travel very slowly.



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