A member of a group of gastropod molluscs; most species secrete a spiral shell for protection Some species of snails don't make shells and are known as slugs
emphasis If you say that someone does something at a snail's pace, you are emphasizing that they are doing it very slowly, usually when you think it would be better if they did it much more quickly. The train was moving now at a snail's pace. Any species of gastropod that glides along on a broad tapered foot and has a high coiled shell into which it can withdraw. Snails are found in the ocean, in fresh waters, and on land. Most marine snails have gills in the mantle cavity (see mollusk). Most land and freshwater snails have no gills; they use the mantle cavity itself as a lung. Snails may be either scavengers (of dead plant or animal matter) or predators. Some species are used as food, and the shells of some are used as ornaments. See also limpet, periwinkle, slug, whelk
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
Snails are sensitive to their environment, some species preferring woodland, others grassland or open country, others wet or damp conditions, others dark or shaded locations, others underground, and so on The shells are durable and their presence – whether in kitchen middens or elsewhere – tells us something about the environment in which they lived