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snailmore about snail

snail

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Snail  \Snail\  (sn[=a]l),  n.  [OE.  snaile,  AS  sn[ae]gel,  snegel 
  sn[ae]gl;  akin  to  G.  schnecke,  OHG.  snecko  Dan.  snegl  Icel. 
  snigill.] 
  1.  (Zo["o]l.) 
  a  Any  one  of  numerous  species  of  terrestrial 
  air-breathing  gastropods  belonging  to  the  genus  Helix 
  and  many  allied  genera  of  the  family  {Helicid[ae]}. 
  They  are  abundant  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world 
  except  the  arctic  regions,  and  feed  almost  entirely  on 
  vegetation;  a  land  snail. 
  b  Any  gastropod  having  a  general  resemblance  to  the  true 
  snails,  including  fresh-water  and  marine  species.  See 
  {Pond  snail},  under  {Pond},  and  {Sea  snail}. 
 
  2.  Hence  a  drone;  a  slow-moving  person  or  thing 
 
  3.  (Mech.)  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.  A  tortoise;  in  ancient  warfare,  a  movable  roof  or  shed  to 
  protect  besiegers;  a  testudo.  [Obs.] 
 
  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],  .  .  .  as  the  snail 
  is  in  his  house;  therefore  they  cleped  them  snails. 
  --Vegetius 
  (Trans.). 
 
  5.  (Bot.)  The  pod  of  the  sanil  clover. 
 
  {Ear  snail},  {Edible  snail},  {Pond  snail},  etc  See  under 
  {Ear},  {Edible},  etc 
 
  {Snail  borer}  (Zo["o]l.),  a  boring  univalve  mollusk;  a  drill. 
 
 
  {Snail  clover}  (Bot.),  a  cloverlike  plant  ({Medicago 
  scuttellata},  also  {M.  Helix});  --  so  named  from  its 
  pods,  which  resemble  the  shells  of  snails;  --  called  also 
  {snail  trefoil},  {snail  medic},  and  {beehive}. 
 
  {Snail  flower}  (Bot.),  a  leguminous  plant  ({Phaseolus 
  Caracalla})  having  the  keel  of  the  carolla  spirally  coiled 
  like  a  snail  shell. 
 
  {Snail  shell}  (Zo["o]l.),  the  shell  of  snail. 
 
  {Snail  trefoil}.  (Bot.)  See  {Snail  clover},  above. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  snail 
  n  1:  freshwater  or  marine  or  terrestrial  gastropod  mollusk 
  usually  having  an  external  enclosing  spiral  shell 
  2:  edible  terrestrial  snail  usually  served  in  the  shell  with  a 
  sauce  of  melted  butter  and  garlic  [syn:  {escargot}] 
  v  :  gather  snails:  "We  went  snailing  in  the  summer" 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  snail  vt  To  {snail-mail}  something  "Snail  me  a  copy  of  those 
  graphics,  will  you?" 
 
 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Snail 
  (1.)  Heb.  homit,  among  the  unclean  creeping  things  (Lev.  11:30). 
  This  was  probably  the  sand-lizard,  of  which  there  are  many 
  species  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea  and  the  Sinai  peninsula. 
 
  (2.)  Heb.  shablul  (Ps.  58:8),  the  snail  or  slug  proper. 
  Tristram  explains  the  allusions  of  this  passage  by  a  reference 
  to  the  heat  and  drought  by  which  the  moisture  of  the  snail  is 
  evaporated.  "We  find,"  he  says,  "in  all  parts  of  the  Holy  Land 
  myriads  of  snail-shells  in  fissures  still  adhering  by  the 
  calcareous  exudation  round  their  orifice  to  the  surface  of  the 
  rock,  but  the  animal  of  which  is  utterly  shrivelled  and  wasted, 
  'melted  away.'"




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