snail

Plural: snails

Noun

• freshwater or marine or terrestrial gastropod mollusk usually having an external enclosing spiral shell
• edible terrestrial snail usually served in the shell with a sauce of melted butter and garlic
• Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
• A slow person; a sluggard.
• 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.
• A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.
• The pod of the snail clover.
• A locomotive with a prime mover but no traction motors, used to provide extra electrical power to another locomotive.

Verb

Verb Forms: snailed, snailing, snails

• To move or proceed at a very slow pace.
• gather snails
  • "We went snailing in the summer"
• To move or travel very slowly.

Examples

• My opponent seemed to SNAIL through every turn, making the game drag on.
• The cars were snailing along the motorway during the rush hour.

Synonyms

escargot, dodman, hodmandod

Related Words

heliciculture, slug

Anagrams of snail