Snail

(1.) Heb. homit, among the unclean creeping things (Lev. 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula. (2.) Heb. shablul (Ps. 58:8), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. “We find,” he says, “in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, ’melted away.’”

SNAIL. The word thus rendered in Lev 11:30 may denote some species of Snail. lizard - perhaps the sand-lizard, which is found in the desert of Sinai and in many parts of Palestine. These creatures are eaten by the Arabs, but are esteemed unclean by the Jews. In Ps 58:8 the common snail or the slug is doubtless meant. The former is eaten by the Jews, as by most Orientals. These creatures, of many species, exceedingly abound in Bible lands. Snails seem to waste themselves by covering their path with a thick shining slime. Though they secrete themselves in crevices of the rocks, yet during the long, dry summer multitudes of them perish from the heat, being utterly shrivelled and wasted away in their shells. The melting away spoken of in Psalms is doubtless to be taken in one or the other of these senses.

SNAIL. The word thus rendered in Lev 11:30 may denote some species of Snail. lizard - perhaps the sand-lizard, which is found in the desert of Sinai and in many parts of Palestine. These creatures are eaten by the Arabs, but are esteemed unclean by the Jews. In Ps 58:8 the common snail or the slug is doubtless meant. The former is eaten by the Jews, as by most Orientals. These creatures, of many species, exceedingly abound in Bible lands. Snails seem to waste themselves by covering their path with a thick shining slime. Though they secrete themselves in crevices of the rocks, yet during the long, dry summer multitudes of them perish from the heat, being utterly shrivelled and wasted away in their shells. The melting away spoken of in Psalms is doubtless to be taken in one or the other of these senses.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. Any one of numerous species of terrestrial air-breathing gastropods belonging to the genus Helix and many allied genera of the family Helicidæ. They are abundant in nearly all parts of the world except the arctic regions, and feed almost entirely on vegetation; a land sanil.

2. Any gastropod having a general resemblance to the true snails, including fresh-water and marine species. See Pond snail, under Pond, and Sea snail.

3. Hence, a drone; a slow-moving person or thing.

4. 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.

5. A tortoise; in ancient warfare, a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers; a testudo. [Obs.] They had also all manner of gynes [engines] . . . that needful is [in] taking or sieging of castle or of city, as snails, that was naught else but hollow pavises and targets, under the which men, when they fought, were heled [protected], . . . as the snail is in his house; therefore they cleped them snails. Vegetius (Trans.).

6. The pod of the sanil clover. Ear snail, Edible snail, Pond snail, etc. See under Ear, Edible, etc. -- Snail borer (Zoöl.), a boring univalve mollusk; a drill. -- Snail clover (Bot.), a cloverlike plant (Medicago scuttellata, also, M. Helix); -- so named from its pods, which resemble the shells of snails; -- called also snail trefoil, snail medic, and beehive. -- Snail flower (Bot.), a leguminous plant (Phaseolus Caracalla) having the keel of the carolla spirally coiled like a snail shell. -- Snail shell (Zoöl.), the shell of snail. -- Snail trefoil. (Bot.) See Snail clover, above.