snail

Meanings

Noun

• 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

• To move or travel very slowly.

Related

Similar words

• dodman, hodmandod

Origin

• From the Middle English snaile, snayle, from the Old English sneġel, from Proto-Germanic *snagilaz. Cognate with Low German Snagel,
• Snâel, Snâl, German Schnegel. Compare also Old Norse snigill, from Proto-Germanic *snigilaz.