snail

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Meaning

1. Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.
2. (informal) A slow person; a sluggard.
3. 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 or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.
5. The pod of the snail clover.
6. A locomotive with a prime mover but no traction motors, used to provide extra electrical power to another locomotive.

slug

escargot

helix

pond snail

spiral shell

snail-shell

slug-abed

buccinum

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sneɪl/

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