snail
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Related to snail: Land snail
snail
snail, name commonly used for a gastropod mollusk with a shell. Included in the thousands of species are terrestrial, freshwater, and marine forms. Some eat both plant and animal matter; others eat only one type of food. Respiration is carried on by gills in the aquatic species; terrestrial forms have a pulmonary sac, or lung, in the mantle cavity. A few terrestrial species have returned to the sea, and consequently must rise to the surface to breathe. Eyes are borne on stalks or tentacles. Many snails, including all land snails, are hermaphroditic, but the majority of the marine species have separate sexes. A snail secretes a slimy path over which it progresses slowly by rhythmic contractions of the muscular base, or foot. Marine and terrestrial snails are eaten in various parts of the world. Snails are considered a delicacy in Europe and were eaten by primitive man and raised for food by the Romans. Certain harmful freshwater species harbor flukes and other parasites that cause disease in humans. Although some land snails cause economic losses by destroying vegetation, even more harm is done to gardens by slugs. Snails are classified in the phylum Mollusca, class Gastropoda.
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What does it mean when you dream about a snail?
We often association snails with slowness, and a dream about snails could relate to our sense of something moving as a “snail’s pace” or a communication arriving via “snail mail.” Alternatively, as an animal with a hard shell, a snail can represent someone’s psychological shell.
The Dream Encyclopedia, Second Edition © 2009 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
snail
[snāl] (invertebrate zoology)
Any of a large number of gastropod mollusks distinguished by a spiral shell that encloses the body, a head, a foot, and a mantle.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
snail
symbol of deliberation and steadfastness. [Heraldry: Halberts, 38]
See: Perseverance
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
snail
1. any of numerous terrestrial or freshwater gastropod molluscs with a spirally coiled shell, esp any of the family Helicidae, such as Helix aspersa (garden snail)
2. any other gastropod with a spirally coiled shell, such as a whelk
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005