snail

noun \ ˈsnāl \

Updated on: 13 May 2018

Definition of snail

1 : a gastropod mollusk especially when having an external enclosing spiral shell

2 : a slow-moving or sluggish person or thing

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snaillike

play \ˈsnāl-ˌlīk\ adjective

See snail defined for English-language learners

See snail defined for kids

Examples of snail in a Sentence

go and tell the snails in the back to hurry up

Recent Examples of snail from the Web

Queen conch shells housing snails, prized by seafood chefs but subject to fishing bans in Florida, are the most commonly smuggled species from Latin America, the group found.

— alex horton, Washington Post, "Federal agents peered into a duffel bag on the Mexico border. They found a tiger cub.," 1 May 2018
Clay sculptures made by fifth-grade students of sea creatures -- including a snake, a crab and a snail -- are mounted on a paper seascape background.

— mary jane brewer, cleveland.com, "H.G. Blake Elementary School student artwork displayed at Medina Library," 21 Apr. 2018
Among the finds were numerous fossilized palm trees and pine cones, hundreds of invertebrates including snails and crabs, shark teeth and whale skulls.

— ashley strickland, CNN, "New species among rare treasure trove of fossils found in California," 20 Apr. 2018
Pour One Out For smaller critters like snails and slugs, try putting wide strips of copper tape around vulnerable plants.

— Sunset, "Top Tips to Keep Plants Safe from Garden Pests," 22 Jan. 2018
Tour-goers get to sample a trio of Bandera’s signature tostadas, topped with sea snails, tuna ceviche, and sea urchin.

— peter cheng, Los Angeles Magazine, "Mexican-Food Expert Bill Esparza Has Curated Cruise Excursions That Are a Gastronome’s Dream," 23 Apr. 2018
In December, the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the beaverpond marstonia, a tiny freshwater snail found in Georgia, to be extinct.

— umair irfan, Vox, "7 things we’ve learned about Earth since the last Earth Day," 21 Apr. 2018
That’s in addition to some of the earliest flowering plants, plus assorted pine, cypress and gingko trees, algae, mosses and ferns, snails, clams, crustaceans, insects, spiders and almost endlessly onward.

— stefen chow, Smithsonian, "The Great Chinese Dinosaur Boom," 19 Apr. 2018
The scene was as old as time, the birds slowly picking their way through a tangle of aquatic plants, harvesting frogs, snails, minnows, anything that moves.

— ben raines, AL.com, "The hidden lake: a primordial secret found," 17 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'snail.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of snail

Middle English, from Old English snægl; akin to Old High German snecko snail, snahhan to creep

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

snail Synonyms

snail

verb

Definition of snail

intransitive verb

: to move, act, or go slowly or lazily

Examples of snail in a Sentence

the highway construction work created a bottleneck that had cars snailing for the next five miles

Recent Examples of snail from the Web

The investigators found that hungry caterpillars, which usually gorge on tomato leaves, had no appetite for them after the plants were exposed to snail slime and activated their chemical resistance.

— erica tennenhouse, Scientific American, "Plants “Eavesdrop” on Slimy Snails," 13 Apr. 2018
Payments for premiums still cannot be processed online - people have to snail-mail checks to a CGI processor in Nebraska.

— lynnley browning, Newsweek, "Doubling Down on Obamacare," 6 Feb. 2014
Ten minutes of the second half snailed by without anything more exciting happening than Ryan Bertrand missing a two-yard pass to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

— SI.com, "England 1-0 Slovenia: Late Harry Kane Strike Sees England Qualify for World Cup 2018," 5 Oct. 2017

First Known Use of snail

1582

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

SNAIL Defined for English Language Learners

snail

noun

Definition of snail for English Language Learners

: a small animal that lives in a shell that it carries on its back, that moves very slowly, and that can live in water or on land

SNAIL Defined for Kids

snail

noun \ ˈsnāl \

Definition of snail for Students

: a small slow-moving mollusk that has a spiral shell into which it can draw itself for safety and that can live either on land or in water

Medical Dictionary

snail

noun \ ˈsnā(ə)l \

medical Definition of snail

: any of various gastropod mollusks and especially those having an external enclosing spiral shell including some which are important in medicine as intermediate hosts of trematodes