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snail

  • noun
  • snāl

Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.

Other meanings

  1. 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.

  2. A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.

Word history

From Old English "sneġel".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “snail” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.