▪ I. snail, n.1
(sneɪl)
Forms: α. 1 sneᵹel, sneᵹl, snæᵹel, snæᵹl, 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. sneᵹel, snæᵹel, 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. a. 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 sneᵹlas. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 110 Ᵹif næddre slea man, þone blacan sneᵹl awærc on haliᵹ wætre. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 121 Limax, snæᵹl. Testudo, ᵹehused snæᵹl. 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 Mandeville (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 Shakes. 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 Mandeville (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 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 58 They were wont, in olde time, to haue paynted snayles in their houses. 1851 J. R. 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. 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. 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 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 tr. 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 tr. Kolben's Cape Good-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 tr. 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. a. Used with reference or allusion to the exceptionally slow motion of the snail.
| a 1000 Riddles xli. 70 (Gr.), Me is snæᵹl 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 J. Collinges Caveat for Prof. xiii. (1653) 71 Sure..our Saviour drave snails as he went, he reckons so long for his journey! 1778 F. 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 & Letters (1895) II. 244 Riding..at the pace of a snail. |
b. snail's gallop,
snail's 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 n. 3 c]. 1793 F. Burney 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 xvi, 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 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. ii. 196 Dromio, thou Dromio, thou snaile, thou slug. a 1593 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. 1915 Dialect Notes IV. 198 We'll have to wait for Edith. She's such a snail. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xvii. 366 He [sc. a latecomer] is a..Snail. |
† 3. a. A structure or formation resembling a snail-shell; a testudo.
Obs.| 1408 tr. Vegetius' De Re Milit. iv. xiv. (MS. Laud 416), The gynne that is clepid the snaile or þ⊇ 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;
= lima{cced}on 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 Catter⁓pillars. 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. 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,
snail-culture,
snail-eater,
snail-feast,
snail-garden,
snail-trace,
snail-track, etc.;
snail-green,
snail-nacreous,
snail-nosed adjs.| 1771 E. 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. |
| 1931 V. Woolf Waves 25 Louis regards the wall opposite with *snail-green eyes. |
| 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. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 60 Cyclamen leaves..Spurned with mud *Snail-nacreous Low down. |
| 1960 S. Plath Colossus 10 In their jars the *snail-nosed babies moon and glow. |
| 1887 Jefferies Amaryllis xxxii, My sister, as was in a decline, used to have *snail-oil rubbed into her back. |
| 1861 Hulme tr. 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. |
| 1966 J. Merrill Nights & Days 42 The brief *snail-trace Of her withdrawal dries upon our faces. |
| 1930 D. H. Lawrence Nettles 20 All those nasty police-eyes like *snail-tracks smearing the gentle souls that figure in the paint. |
| 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 tr. 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,
snail-mount,
snail-movement,
snail-piece,
snail-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. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 19 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) which 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. n.;
† snail-crawled a., crawling as slow as a snail;
snail-creep,
-creeping (see
quots.);
snail darter [
cf. darter 5], a small fresh-water fish,
Percina tanasi, belonging to the family Percidæ, and found in certain rivers of the
U.S.;
snail-eater Ornith.,
= openbill;
snail-fish, a fish related to the lumpsucker;
snail-flower (see
quots.);
snail-house dial., a snail-shell;
snail-leech, a species of leech which 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 trail Needlework (see
quots.);
† snail-trefoil, (
a) lucerne; (
b) snail-plant;
snail-wheel (see
quot. 1846 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 Herbal 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 Country Farm 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. 327 Snail Clover, Medicago. |
| 1726 Dict. Rust., Saintfoin,..otherwise call'd..*Snail or Horned Clover-grass. |
| 1649 W. 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. |
| 1975 U.S. Federal Reg. 17 June 25597/2 The Fish and Wildlife Service has evidence on hand that the *snail darter Percina (Imostoma) sp. is an endangered species. 1977 Time 11 Apr. 17/2 The Mississippi sand-hill crane and the three-inch snail darter of the Little Tennessee River have already halted state and federal bulldozers. 1981 Science 15 May 761/3 Populations of snail darters have been found in three new places... If they turn out to be established populations the fish may no longer be an endangered species... The snail darter may be reclassified as a ‘threatened’..species. |
| 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 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 G. F. 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 Lima{cced}on, 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. |
| 1899 W. G. P. Townsend Embroidery vi. 94 *Snail-trail,..the same principle as single coral, only worked more on the slope. 1948 C. Christopher Compl. Bk. Embroidery Stitches iii. 64 Snail Trail, or Knot Stitch, makes a series of simple knots connected with each other on the surface of the fabric. 1973 E. Wilson Embroidery Bk. (1975) vi. 322 Snail trail worked very close becomes Broad Rope stitch. When worked with the needle at right angles to the thread, instead of slanting, it becomes Coral. |
| 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 R. F. Forster Flora Amer. Sept. 32 Medicago virginica, Snail Trefoil. |
| 1831 M. Edgeworth Let. 6 May (1971) 535 Inkstands that shut impervious to ink—insured by the *snail wheel tightener. 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. |
▸
snail mail n. Computing slang (
orig. U.S.) the physical delivery of mail, as by the postal service, considered as slow in comparison to electronic mail; a letter, etc., sent by post.
| 1982Reply to: Yacc Wizardry Sought in net.unix-wizards (Usenet newsgroup) 3 June Our Unix-Wizard mail is slower than *snail mail these days. 1983 N.Y. Times 13 Sept. c4/6 Other terms, like snail mail, for messages delivered by the United States Postal Service, as opposed to those transported electronically, are more widely comprehensible. 1989 New Scientist 6 May 66/3 All this is so much more congenial than..what we electronic-sophisticates now call ‘snail mail’, that one can properly talk of a new age. 2000 Nation 14 Feb. 7/1 Many of those voices mobilized..firing off thousands of e-mail and snail-mail missives to the FCC. |
▪ II. † snail, n.2 Obs. [app. an assimilation of chenille to prec., perh. through the dial. form sneel. Cf. snailing n.] = chenille. Also
attrib.| 1741 Lady Pomfret Lett. (1805) III. 216 The dress of the nuns here is all white, with a black silk snail-string about their necks. 1744 Mrs. Montagu Lett. (1906) I. 194, I have brought down a screen to work in snail for the Duchess. 1773 Ann. Reg. 124, I'm compass'd now With worms instead of lovely snails. |
▪ III. † snail, n.3 Obs.—1 (See
quot. and
snouting2.)
| 1662 Irish Statutes (1678) 628 Snouting, alias snayl, or drest towe, the twelve pound, 0. 5s. 0. |
▪ IV. snail, v. (
sneɪl)
Also 6
snayle, 6–7
snaill, 7
snaile.
[f. snail n.1] † 1. intr. Of soldiers: To form into a ‘snail’ or ‘snails’.
Obs.—1| a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 235 b, All the gonnes seuered themselues into one place,..and likewise the byll⁓men, and there rynged and snayled, which was a goodly sight to beholde. |
2. a. To move, walk, or travel lazily or sluggishly; to go very slowly. Also with
on.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 118 Shee trots on snayling, lyk a tooth shaken old hagge. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) IV. 124 Draw in your horns, and resolve to snail-on..in a track we are acquainted with. 1813 Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary (1861) II. 238 The Crown Prince is snailing towards the Elbe. 1903 A. Adams Log Cowboy xviii. 275 The herd was snailing along the North Platte. Ibid. xxiii. 365 We snailed on westward at our leisurely gait. |
b. With
it.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves i. xciv, You shall finde, that every thing, as farre as the Abilitie will give it Line, does Snaile it after Deitie. Ibid. ii. xliv, When the grave Vespasian came to snail it, and be leaver'd in the throngs slow march. 1893 W. C. A. Blew Brighton 48 From Clayton Hill the coach snailed it on towards Cuckfield. |
c. To make (one's way) very slowly.
| 1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger v. 56 Two bullock drays were snailing their way from the Port. |
3. a. trans. To make or construct after the spiral form of a snail-shell. Now
spec. in clockmaking.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 637 God plac't the Ears..As in two turrets, on the building's top, Snailing their hollow entries so a-sloap [etc.]. 1885 D. Glasgow Watch & Clock Making vi. 73 The arbor should be snailed, so that when the spring is wound on to it, it will take a spiral form. |
b. To finish off with curved eccentric lines.
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 242 Fusee caps, steel keyless watches, &c., are snailed with a copper mill. |
4. To clear of, keep free from, slugs or snails.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Glouc. i. (1662) 349 Many got great [tobacco] estates thereby, notwithstanding the great..cost in..watering, snailing, suckering,..and rowling it. |
Hence
ˈsnailing vbl. n. (see 3 b).
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 242 Snailing requires a sharp polishing material. 1891 Tripplin & Rigg Watchmaker's Handbk. (ed. 3) 119 A beautiful snailing can be obtained with Arkansas stone mud. |
| attrib. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 242 The snailing mill is fixed in nearly the right position. 1885 D. Glasgow Watch & Clock Making ix. 119 The snailing roller [is] held in the fingers and prevented from turning. |