Forms: α. 1 sneʓel, sneʓl, snæʓel, snæʓl, 4–7 snayl, 5–7 snayle (5 snaylle); 3, 5– snail (6 snaill), 5–7 snaile, 6–7 snale. β. 1 snél, snǽl, 5 snele, snyle, 9 dial. sneel. γ. 4 snawile. [OE. sneʓel, snæʓel, etc., = MLG. sneil (LG. snäl, sniel, etc.), OHG. snegil (MHG. snegel, G. schnägel, now dial. with variants schnäl, schnel, etc.), ON. and Icel. snigill (Norw. and Sw. snigel, Da. snegl).]
1. One or other of the terrestrial or freshwater gasteropods having a well-developed spiral or whorled shell capable of housing the whole body; also formerly (and still dial. and Sc.) a slug.
The common types of the true snail belong to the genus Helix (esp. H. aspersa or hortensis, the common garden-snail, and H. pomatia, the edible snail) or Clausilia, of the family Helicidæ.
α. c. 725. Corpus Gloss., C 630. Cocleae, lytle sneʓlas.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 110. ʓif næddre slea man, þone blacan sneʓl awærc on haliʓ wætre.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 121. Limax, snæʓl. Testudo, ʓehused snæʓl.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 87. Snayles Mus and fule wihte Beoþ þine cunde.
13[?]. Coer de L., 3836. Anon they … gunne to drawen in her hornes, As a snayl among the thornes.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xv. 169. Thei anoynten here Hondes and here Feet with a juyce made of Snayles.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 3313. Wrinkled double, like an hornyd snail.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, viii. (1870), 249. Beware that you do not lye in … such chambres as myse, rattes, and snayles resorteth vnto.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 1033. As the snail, whose tender horns being hit, Shrinks backward in his shelly cave.
1633. Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit., § 29. See there two snails. One hath a house; the other wants it: yet both are snails.
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 226. If People were sensible of the hurt they do, they would no more eat them, than they would Frogs, Snales.
1727. Gay, Fables, I. xxiv. A snail, Beneath his house, with slimy trail Crawls o’er the grass.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1824), III. 113. The noise which the snail makes in moving the water.
1813. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (ed. 4), III. 467. The garden snail, hedge snail, and grove snail.
1871. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 566. The common Snails … not unfrequently become formidable pests to the horticulturist, from the ravages caused by their voracity.
β. c. 825. Epinal Gloss., 611. Limax, snel.
[c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 122. Chelio,… sæsnæl.]
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xxi. 96. Þer er in þat land so grete snyles þat in þaire schelles three men or foure may be herberd.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 157. He commandid þat þis vglie burth … sulde be closid in a stone, as a snyle is in hur shell.
1483. Cath. Angl., 346/2. A Snele,… limax.
1828–. in dial. glossaries (Yorks., Chesh., Linc., Leic.), in form sneel.
γ. c. 1305. Land Cokayne, 40, in E. E. P. (1862), 157. Þe lond is ful of oþer gode…. Þer nis dunnir, slete, no hawle, No non vile worme no snawile.
transf. 1579. Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 58. They were wont, in olde time, to haue paynted snayles in their houses.
1851. Planché, Pursuivant of Arms (1873), 125. Snails are borne by the family of Shelley.
fig. 1590. Nashe, M. Marprelate, Wks. (Grosart), I. 245. I wonder how these seelie snayles, creeping but yesterdaie out of shoppes and Graumer-schooles, dare thrust out theyr feeble hornes. Ibid. (1596), Saffron Walden, Ep. Ded. It shall neuer put foorth his snayles hornes againe.
† b. A tortoise or turtle. Obs.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 377. Whan þis snayl was i-roted, þe senewes were i-streyned with ynne þe skyn of þe snayles hous. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., XVIII. cvii. (Bodl. MS.). Þere beþ foure manere [snails], londe snailles & see stronde snailles & venny snailles … [1495 and ryuer snayles].
c. Applied to various animals allied to, or resembling, the snails or slugs. (Cf. SEA-SNAIL.)
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., N iij. The moste dyfference is of blode lettynge, for it draweth the blode deper than the boxynge or the snayles [= leeches].
1666. J. Davies, trans. Rochefort’s Caribby Isles, 78. There is a kind of Snailes, called by the French Soldats that is Souldiers, because they have no shells proper and peculiar to themselves.
1731. Medley, Kolben’s Cape G. Hope, II. 209. The Nabel-Snail has an upper and an under Shell, like a Muscle. Ibid., 208. The Shell of the Sea-Porcupine Snail is … arm’d on almost every Part with long Prickles.
1783. Justamond, trans. Raynal’s Hist. Indies, IV. 134. On the coast of Guayaquil … are found those snails which yield the purple dye so celebrated by the antients.
1794. Reports Agric. Survey, Camb. 111. In the first stage of this disease [sc. the blood-rot] the liver has not been infected with the snails, or plaice [= liver-fluke].
1839. Penny Cycl., XIII. 337/1. The Janthina, or Oceanic Snail.
1865. Mrs. L. L. Clarke, Common Seaweeds, i. 23. As we gather a bunch of seaweed, we shake out dozens of a pretty little snail called Rissoa.
1884. [see snail-bore in sense 7].
2. Used with reference or allusion to the exceptionally slow motion of the snail.
a. 1000. Riddles, XLI. 70 (Gr.). Me is snæʓl swiftra.
1533. J. Heywood, Mery Play, 421 (Brandl). Go and hye the, as fast as a snayle.
1599. Porter, Angry Women Abington (Percy Soc.), 105. A man may bee as slowe as a snaile, but as fierce as a lyon.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 252. I … went forward like a snaile, till despairing of going further I fell upon the ground.
1652. Collinges, Caveat for Prof., xiii. (1653), 71. Sure … our Saviour drave snails as he went, he reckons so long for his journey!
1778. Miss Burney, Evelina, lxxv. During our whole ride, I thought the carriage drawn by snails.
1821. Combe, Syntax, Search Wife, III. (Chandos), 303. He, by degrees, would seldom fail T’ adopt the gallop of a snail.
1862. C. C. Robinson, Dial. Leeds, 406. As slaw as a sneel.
1881. Freeman, in Stephens, Life & Lett. (1895), II. 244. Riding … at the pace of a snail.
b. Snail’s gallop, pace, an excessively slow or tardy pace, rate of progress or motion, etc.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4095. Þan snyȝes þar, out of þat snyth hill as with a snayles pas, A burly best.
1565. Cooper, Testudineus gradus, a slowe pase: a snayles pase.
1707–91. [see GALLOP sb. 3 c].
1793. Mme. D’Arblay, Lett., 12 Sept. That snail’s pace with which business is done by letters.
1816. Sporting Mag., XLVII. 32. Every thing short of eight miles per hour is accounted snail’s pace.
1842. Borrow, Bible in Spain (1843), I. xvi. 331. The snail’s pace at which we were proceeding.
1901. Scotsman, 5 Nov., 6/8. For a time they were able to get along at a snail’s gallop, men leading the horses with torches and lanterns.
c. A slow or indolent person; a sluggard.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., II. ii. 196. Dromio, thou Dromio, thou snaile, thou slug, thou sot.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1866), II. 83. Every snail shall step before thee, and take thy crown from thee.
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, IV. i. When he comes, he comes apace; he’s no snail, I assure you.
† 3. a. A structure or formation resembling a snail-shell; a testudo. Obs.
1408. trans. Vegetius’ De Re Milit., IV. xiv. (MS. Laud 416). The gynne that is clepid the snaile or þe wilk is a frame made of good tymbyr.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 66/2. Cercle, clepyd the snayle, as of pentys, and other lyke, spira.
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, 44. Ground-plots are … externall, as Groves, Arbours, Bowers, Mounts, Mazes, Snailes.
† b. Mil. A formation resembling the letter Ｄ; = LIMAÇON 1. Obs.
1579. North, Plutarch (1895), III. 57. As for the order of their battelles, they knewe not what it ment, nor to cast them selves into a snaill or ringe.
1581. Styward, Mart. Discipl., I. 67. How to bring them into a Ring, an Esse, or a Snaile, verie profitable for young Souldiers.
1591. Garrard’s Art Warre, 87. This order of a D. otherwise called a snaile.
4. pl. A species of medick (usually Medicago scutellata) having snail-shaped seed-pods.
1629. Parkinson, Parad., 339. Medica spinosa altera. Small thorney Buttons, or Snailes.
1730. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Medica Cochleata, The Snail-Trefoil, commonly call’d in the Seed-shops Snails.
1741. Compl. Fam. Piece, II. iii. 371. Sow these dwarf annual Flowers…, Snails and Catterpillars.
1846–50. A. Wood, Class-bk. Bot., 229. M. scutellata (Snails)…. This curious plant derives its name from the singular nature of its fruit, which is twisted like the shell of a snail.
1858. R. Hogg, Veget. Kingdom, 269. Some years ago … some … were admitted into the annual flower borders under the singular names of Snails, Bee-hives,… and similar names suggested by the fancied resemblance of their pods to these subjects.
1866. [see snail-plant in 7].
5. Mech. A flat, spirally curved piece of metal; esp. a toothed disc of this shape forming part of the striking mechanism of a clock; a spiral cam.
1696. W. Derham, Artificial Clockm. (1759), 7. The Snail, or Step-Wheel in Repeating-Clocks.
1764. Ann. Reg., I. 79/1. The quarter and half quarter snail. Ibid. The hour snail and star.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 38. The collar … is formed like a snail or camm, which will act upon either of the levers.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 942. The punch being driven through the plate by one revolution of a snail or cam.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 252. Clockmakers generally mark off the snail on the clock itself after the rest of the striking work is planted.
b. (See quot.)
1834–6. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 280/1. The German snail is an apparatus of nearly the same kind [as the Archimedes’ screw]; it consists of a cylinder with its spiral projections detached from the external cylinder or coating within which it revolves.
6. attrib. and Comb. a. In sense 1, as snail-broth, -culture, -eater, -feast, -garden, etc.
1771. Mrs. Haywood, New Present for Maid, 41. *Snail Broth.
1875. Chambers’s Jrnl., XII. 46. Any one desiring a lesson in *snail-culture, may learn all about it in the Tyrol.
1889. Science-Gossip, XXV. 281/1. I would suggest that conchologists pay some attention to these *snail-eaters.
1875. Chambers’s Jrnl., XII. 46. The Newcastle glassmakers hold an annual *snail-feast.
1895. A. H. Cooke, Molluscs, iv. 119. Escargotières, or *snail-gardens, still exist in many parts of Europe.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 19. Turbinated Shell-Fish of the *Snail Kind.
1883. Science, I. 492/1. A small open square used as a *snail-market.
1887. Jefferies, Amaryllis, xxxii. My sister, as was in a decline, used to have *snail-oil rubbed into her back.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. ii. 85. A *snail paste which enjoyed a certain amount of repute.
1900. Daily News, 13 Oct., 6/6. Circular lines of fine black braid following each other in what is called the *snail pattern.
1780. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), VI. 4572/1. With small yellow flowers, succeeded by small, round, *snail-shaped fruit.
1845. Lindley, Sch. Bot., v. (1858), 56. Medicago orbicularis (Snails). Legumes unarmed, snail-shaped, orbicular.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1805), III. 580. The Romans … kept these animals in what were called Cochlearia, or *Snail Stews.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 355. This Slug is a small whitish Insect … of the *Snail Tribe.
1896. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., VI. 345. The Snail Tribe,—Family Helicidæ.
1682. G. Hartman, True Preserver & Rest. Health, 21. Dr. Harvey his excellent *Snail-water against Consumptions and Hectick Feavers.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 206. Mix it with Snail-Water, or Bean-Flower-Water, to make a Virgin’s Milk, or Wash of.
b. Used attrib. to denote: Exceptionally tardy or slow.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 163. So may it run, runnyng but a snayle pace.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Snail-gallop, a very slow motion, like that of a snail.
1845. E. Holmes, Mozart, 29. The court delayed to pay them, and their affairs, in German phrase, travelled ‘by the snail post.’
c. In senses 3 and 5, as snail-cam, -mount, -movement, -piece, -work.
1591. in Gentl. Mag. (1779), XLIX. 81. The 3. and last was a Snaylmount, rising to four circles of green priuie hedges.
1803. Trans. Soc. Arts, XXI. 399. The snail-piece to raise a weight somewhat similar to the model.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 18–9. The wedge, placed on the internal face of the circle,… causing … the obstacle … to approach nearer to the centre…; this is called the snail movement.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 149. This traverse movement is effected by an endless screw and toothed-wheel, or snail-work.
1902. W. J. Dibdin, Public Lighting, 77. Motion was given to the reflecting screen by a fine chain wound upon a snail cam.
7. Special combs.: snail-bore U.S., a shell-fish (Urosalpinx cinerea) that injures oysters by boring; † snail clover, (a) lucerne; (b) sainfoin; † snail clover-grass, sainfoin; † snail-cod, a kind of fertile mud or sludge obtained from rivers; hence snail-codding vbl. sb.; † snail-crawled a., crawling as slow as a snail; snail-creep, -creeping (see quots.); snail-eater Ornith., = OPEN-BILL; snail-fish, a fish related to the lump-sucker; snail-flower (see quots.); snail-house dial., a snail-shell; snail-leech, a species of leech that eats snails; snail-plant (see quot. 1866 and sense 4); snail sea-cucumber (see quot.); snail-seeded a., having seed-pods resembling snails in form; snail-stone (see quots. 1611, 1797); † snail-trefoil, (a) lucerne; (b) snail-plant; snail-wheel (see quot. and sense 5).
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 696. These small ‘Snails,’ ‘Drills,’ ‘Borers,’ and *‘Snail-bores,’ as they are variously called.
1597. Gerarde, Herball, II. cccclxxxv. 1029. Of Medick fodder, or *Snaile Clauer…. Trifolium Cochleatum.… The flowers are very small, and … turne into round wrinckled knobs, like the water snaile.
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, V. xviii. 697. There is not … any pulse … more pretious for the feeding of beastes then snaile clauer, called in French Sainct foin.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 316. Snail Clover, Medicago.
1726. Dict. Rust., Saintfoin,… otherwise call’d … *Snail or Horned Clover-grass.
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improver, xix. 112. A Mudde or Sludg, that lyeth frequently in deepe Rivers,… which is very Rich…. They Call it *Snayle-Cod, and it hath in it many Snayles and Shells, which is conceived occasioneth the Fatnesse of it. [Hence in later agricultural works.] Ibid., xvii. 100. And in thy Tillage are these special Opportunities to Improve it,… by Liming, Marling,… Mudding, *Snayle-codding.
a. 1658. Cleveland, To T. C., 13, Wks. (1687). If thou wilt needs to Sea, O must it be In an old Galliasse of sixty three; A *Snail-crawl’d Bottom?
1592. Will of Kelleway (Somerset Ho.). One dozen of *snaile creepe worke.
1887. Archit. Soc. Dict., VII. 96/2. Snail creep. The common form of pointing granite or limestone uncoursed walls.
1792. Young’s Annals Agric., XVIII. 41. The ends of the beams [of the Royal William] … had been gouged in a manner then [in 1719] practised, which was called *snail-creeping.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 635. Snail-Creeping. Gouging out the surfaces of timbers in crooked channels, to promote a circulation of air.
1894. Newton, Dict. Birds, 655. Shell-eater, Shell-Ibis, and *Snail-eater.
1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 324. There are one or two British species [of Leparus or Liparis], some of which are called *‘Snail-fishes,’ from their soft and unctuous texture.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 114/2. *Snail Flower, or rather Snail Seed Vessel, is a kind of Pod, in form like a Snail house.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1067/2. Snail-flower, Phaseolus Caracalla.
1688. *Snail-house [see snail-flower].
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., 393. Snail-housen,… snail-shells.
1865. Intellect. Obs., No. 44. 81. The different species of *snail-leech.
1767. J. Abercrombie, Ev. Man own Gardener (1803), 735/2. *Snail Plant,… Caterpillar Plant.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1067/2. Snail-plant. Medicago scutellata, and also M. Helix; the pods of these are called snails from their resemblance to those mollusks.
1858. Baird, Cycl. Nat. Sci., Psolus phantapus, the *snail sea cucumber, is a British species.
1858. Mayne, Expos. Lex., 1116/1. Salsola Kali,… the *snail-seeded glasswort, or saltwort.
1611. Cotgr., Pierre de Limaçon, the *Snaile stone; found in the heads of some (dew) Snailes; tis white, somewhat transparent, and rugged.
1681. Grew, Musæum, III. I. i. 262. Divers others SNAIL-STONES; some of them of a Limy substance, others perfect Flint.
1700. E. Lhwyd, in Rowlands, Mona Antiqua (1723), 338. Besides the Snake-Stones,… the Highlanders have their Snail-Stones, Paddoc-Stones,… to all which they attribute their several Virtues.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), X. 76/2. It is in its [sc. the slug’s] head and back that the snail-stone is found; which is a small pearled and sandy stone, of the nature of lime stones.
1548. Turner, Names Herbes (E. D. S.), 51. Medica … maye be called in englishe horned Clauer or *snail Trifoly.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., Medica cochleata, Snail-Trefoil.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 279. The Plant commonly called La Lucerne, is a Medic Clover, or by some called Snail Trefoyl.
1771. J. R. Forster, Flora Amer. Septentr., 32. Medicago virginica Snail Trefoil.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 891. The *snail-wheel of a striking clock … has an edge formed in twelve steps, arranged spirally, the positions of which determine the number of strokes of the hammer on the bell.
